Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   It was an arm.  Unnaturally pale perhaps, and currently enclosed in a glass case with little lasers flickering over it in a scan, but it was still an arm.

                For the hundredth time in his life, Superman found himself wondering if his best friend had finally gone crazy.  Sure, he had been sane—perfectly correct, in fact—the other ninety-nine times, but… an arm?

                “Bruce, explain to me again why this is so important.”  He said, without taking his eyes off the appendage.

                A snort came from the dark-clad figure at the computer.  “Because it came from another dimension, that’s why.”

                “Oh?”  Other dimensional-beings DID tend to be rather nasty.  “So have you found out to communicate with it yet?”

                An annoyed sigh at his shoulder made him start slightly.  “It’s not sentient, Clark.”  Batman moved forward and began tapping on the monitor next to the box.

                “You’re sure?  Some of these dimensional things…”

                “I’m sure.  I had J’onn look it over.  It’s just an arm.”

                “It might simply be dead.  Then it wouldn’t respond to J’onn.”

                “I also sought out Zatanna and several mediums and had them check into it.  Granted, it’s not entirely certain that they’d be able to contact a dead being from another dimension, but I’m pretty sure it’s just an arm.  The anatomy corresponds pretty exactly to it… the bone and muscle are nearly exactly the same as a human appendage.”

                “So it’s just an arm.”

                “Yes.”

                “So… explain to me why this is so important again.”

                Another sigh.  “Because it came from another dimension.”

                “Bruce, it’s still just an arm.  And according to you, a pretty normal arm.  Why are you stressing out about…”  Superman stopped, thought a moment, and corrected himself.  “Why do you want me to stress out about it?”

                “Dimensional ruptures have a habit of being problematic.”  Came the response.  “Especially when they happen repeatedly.”

                Superman blinked.  “What?”

                “Remember that explosion we had in the Metro tower last week?”

                “Yeah.  Knocked out the main generator and nearly caused a meltdown.  We were on high alert expecting an attack for several hours, though fortunately no one did.”

                “Exactly.”  Bruce turned from the computer and faced the Man of Steel.  “You remember the investigation we did, that was NOT a normal explosion.  Yet we experienced no supervillain activity.  That means that either they did something we haven’t found out about yet, or none of them were behind the explosion.”

                Clark frowned.  “Not likely.”

                “That’s what I thought.  But I’ve been investigating for quite a while, and I’ve yet to find any unusual activity that occurred that day.  And then Question came to me.”

                 “Q?”  Clark’s nose wrinkled in distaste.  “And you listened to him?”

                A snort as Batman turned back to the case.  “I listened.  I didn’t believe him, but I told him to pursue his investigation, figuring it couldn’t do any harm.  Every so often his theories turn something up.”

                “What was this particular theory?”

                Batman’s face gave the slightest twitch.  “Some kind of Mayan underground in the ‘Soirree’ hair salon chain, who were trying to bring about the end of the world through transportational magic.”

                Clark rubbed his face.  “Remind me why he’s in the league again?”

                “Because every so often, his theories turn something up.”  Bruce gestured.  “Like this.  He checked up on other ‘mystic disturbances’ in the area, and found an unusual police report.  A severed arm, found on the top of a nearby office building.”

                “That’s what this is?”  Clark studied the arm in the case.  “Bruce, I’m not seeing the connection.”

                “Exactly.”  Bruce nodded, sliding his hands into the gloves fitted to the side of the box.  “No one would, except Q.  It happened about four hours prior to our incident, in a completely separate part of town.  Even if I was looking into it, I might just think it was a random murder-and-mutilation job.  But Q picked up on it because of what he termed a ‘mystic anomaly.’” 

Here Bruce’s gloved hands reached for the arm and picked it up.  The elbow sagged slightly and the wrist hung limply from the arm as he turned it over and laid it back on the glass bottom, palm facing upward.

Clark stared at it for a moment.  “Why,” he said carefully, “would someone have a mouth in their hand?”

“That,” Bruce said, “I don’t know.”

Chapter Text

                Naruto was not having a good day.  No, forget that, Naruto was having a TERRIBLE day.  Not surprising perhaps, given that he was standing in the middle of a battlefield amidst the broken and bleeding bodies of his friends.  Or that the people responsible, standing just across the wood from him, were some of the most wanted criminals in the world.

It didn’t help either that one of them had once been one of his closest friends. 

                “They’re not dead, you realize.”  Sasuke said coldly, bringing Naruto out of his stupor.  “Though killing them would be easy enough.”

                Naruto’s eyes turned just a touch red.  “Sasuke…”

                “They were trying to stop me.”  Sasuke interrupted him.  “I’ve left enough examples by now for them to realize what happens to those who try to stop me.  It’s not my fault they decided to be stupid.”  His eyes narrowed slightly.  “But at least they recognize that I can never return.”

                “Sasuke, these people were your friends!”

                “Tch.”  Sasuke jerked his head upwards.  “I am an avenger.  I do not have ‘friends.’”  Naruto noticed the red-haired girl behind Sasuke wince slightly.  “Some people have bonds of love, but I am destined to a bond of hatred.  My darkness is my strength.”

                “You left them alive.”  Naruto pointed out.

                “Don’t tempt me,” growled the silver-haired boy at Sasuke’s side, leveling an enormous sword.

                “Hm.”  Sasuke answered, ignoring the swordsman’s outburst.  “That was so that I could convince you.”

                Naruto blinked.

                “You, Naruto, have grown powerful, but you remain the same idiotic teme you were before.  You refuse to confront reality.  You fail to realize that who I am is who I want to be.  I do not need rescuing, not from Orochimaru or Madarra or even from myself.  I am an avenger, this path is my destiny.”

                “Don’t start feeding me that destiny crap.”  Naruto growled.  “You’re starting to sound like Neji.”

                Sasuke shook his head.  “Teme.  You still don’t get it.  I am an Uchiha.  I am destined to be driven by hatred, I am destined to be an avenger.  I am destined to fight you.”

                “I’m not going to fight you, Sasuke.”

                “Yes you will.”  Sasuke rolled his eyes.  “That’s why I left your friends alive.”  He stepped forward a little and nosed one of the bodies with his foot.  It let out a feeble groan.

                Naruto’s eyes widened.  “Don’t…!”  He said, stepping forward.

                “Hm.”  Responded Sasuke, simply studying the body at his feet, ignoring the looks both Naruto and his own team were sending him.  “I remember this one.  Not the most powerful genin, but devoted.  She went down easily enough, but she kept getting back up.  Rather like you in some ways.”  He frowned contemplatively.  “I think I even remember Zetsu telling me something about her and you during Pein’s attack.”

                “Er… Sasuke-kun…,”  whispered the red-haired girl hesitantly.

“You always were focused on bonds, Naruto.  Protecting your precious people, ne?”  He glanced up to see Naruto quivering with rage.  “Is this one of them?”

                Naruto did not respond.

                “And,” Sasuke continued, a long sword dropping from the folds of his coat, “can you protect her?  Hmmm?”  He lifted a calm eyebrow.

                Naruto stared at him, shock rapidly turning to anger.  The red-haired girl’s eyes widened.  The huge man to Sasuke’s right shifted uneasily.  There was a long moment of silence in the forest.

                The body under Sasuke coughed suddenly.  “N… Naruto-kun…?”   It croaked.

                Several things happened in that moment.  Naruto threw himself, screaming and glowing with a strange red chakra, at Sasuke.  Sasuke flicked up his sword and threw himself at Naruto.  Sasuke’s teammates, too slow to realize what was going on, started backward.  A pair of white eyes opened and groggily focused on the battle.

                And off to the far left of the battle, a battered, bleeding man with silver hair raised himself on one elbow .  His right eye opened, revealing a curious, swirling red eye.

                “Kamui.”  He whispered.

                The air around the field crackled with a strange energy.  The forms suddenly blurred, warped, reshaped, and twisted into strange spiral shapes.  And then there was a blinding flash…

                And suddenly they were all gone.  The field, the bodies, the fighters, and the friends.  The only person left was the silver-haired man.  I… didn’t mean to… get all of them…  Hatake Kakashi, Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, collapsed onto the cold stone.  Oh well.  I hope… they do alright… were his last thoughts as he slipped into unconsciousness.

                In an alleyway in Gotham, a bright light flashed and several dark forms tumbled to the ground.

                Somewhere in Hub City, a boy fell through a flashing hole and collapsed onto the pavement.

                Jump City’s park flared with sudden light as four figures materialized into existence.

                Three guards in a mysterious underground complex leapt backwards as a glowing portal filled the hallway and shot several people at them.

                And high in the skies above Metropolis, a glowing ball of light materialized and dropped three people toward the ground below.

                As they fell, the slim blond girl in the group opened her eyes.  For a moment she stared at the swiftly approaching lights.

                Her eyes widened.  Whoah.

Chapter Text

Dispersion

"Master Bruce, a situation has arisen." Intoned the voice respectfully from the speaker.

Batman flipped a switch on the Batmobile's dashboard. "What is it, Alfred?"

There was a slight pause. "The computer has picked up… 'dimensional rifts,' it says, worldwide."

"What dimension?"

"The code is 1739, sir."

Batman's eyes narrowed to slits. "I see. That should have been sent to the League automatically, but inform them just in case. Now where is the rift?"

"Sir…" Another pause. "There are several."

"Several?" Batman paused. "Very well. Where is the one closest to my current location?"

"At Whituckney Ave, 8743." The voice replied. "Over on the other side of town. Sir, perhaps you ought to…"

"Forget it Alfred." Batman flicked the switch off. "Batman out."

It was the pain that awoke Ino.

The last thing she remembered was the sudden realization that there was someone behind her, moments before everything went black. The next thing she knew, she was being awoken by the pain. It felt unbearable, as if every part of her body were being twisted, shrunk, and re-expanded. Light was exploding in her mind, stars and shapes of every size and color, like a kaleidoscope of burning pain.

Just as suddenly as the pain had appeared, it disintegrated, and all Ino could feel was the cold wind blowing against her face. Her body felt curiously light, and she could feel nothing with her hands and arms.

Groaning, she cracked her eyes open and stared into the blinding wind. She could see a great many lights ahead of them, and they were swiftly coming closer. In fact, they were coming so fast…

"Whoah." Ino's eyes widened as she realized two things. One, those lights were the tops of buildings. Two, she was falling. Towards them.

Now, it was possible—even likely—that this was a dream, and that she would wake up just before she hit the ground. But on the off chance that it wasn't, she was utterly screwed. Even in the time it took her to think this, the buildings were already screaming past (dimly she noted that they were very odd buildings), and her mind was already identifying the thing coming closer as stone (perhaps concrete?).

This didn't feel like a dream.

There was a nasty taste in his mouth—blood, he realized—and there were definitely some odd smells around—smoke, mostly. But what bothered Kiba most were the bizarre sounds. Rumblings and squealing, and some sort of blaring noise that he couldn't identify. And every so often there would be these high-pitched whining noises that would fade in and out of his listening range. It bothered him, because at the moment all he could see were stars, and his body wasn't really responding.

Slowly feeling came back into him, and he groaned. Loudly. He was suddenly aware of thousands of burning cuts in his arms, legs, hands, feet, and head. That silver-haired psycho certainly hadn't left much untouched.

It hurt to move his arm, but he slowly maneuvered it into his pouch and found his pills. Then he crawled his hand back to his mouth and popped one in.

The effects took a few moments, but gradually he felt his energy returning. His body still hurt like anything, of course, and he was bleeding all over, but at least he could move. Akamaru was probably…

"Akamaru!" Kiba jolted up, a little faster than he should have, and hissed in pain. "Akamaru!" He called again, looking around frantically.

He didn't see Akamaru anywhere. What he DID see was a narrow, dark alleyway, and a few trashcans that he had apparently crashed into and knocked over. A few bright glowing light just outside of the alleyway made it impossible for him to see further.

Kiba pushed himself up, bracing against the wall for support, and began to limp forward. Last thing he knew, he and the others had been fighting Sasuke in the forest. How had he gotten here? More importantly, where on earth was "here?" Still more importantly, where were the others?

Most importantly, where was Akamaru?

"Akamaru!" Kiba called again, weakly now, as he stumbled out of the alleyway into the glaring light. Shielding his eyes, he looked up and gasped.

He stood upon a long avenue of black unbroken stone, with lights piercing the darkness at regular intervals. With a roaring sound, a strange beast of metal rushed past him, leaving an odd scent of smoke behind and letting out one of the odd blaring noises Kiba had heard earlier. On either side and in front of him rose towering columns of smooth steel and glass. They were tall, far taller than anything he had ever seen. Little lights blinked on their edges, and above them he could see stars twinkling in the sky. But they looked… different.

Kiba hissed suddenly as he realized what was wrong. They were the wrong stars!

As a survivalist, Kiba knew how to identify the constellations and from there, how to work out his general position. But these stars… Kiba couldn't read these at all. There were no constellations. No Rikudo the Great Hunter, no Great Inu, nothing at all! Rinhabi and his brilliant sword were nowhere to be seen! He could not even find the brilliant Juubi's Eye. No, these stars were altogether different. And they looked darker, less clear than the ones back home.

Kiba swore quietly. He had no idea where he was, or where the others were, or where Akamaru was.

Hearing a step in the street, Kiba turned to see who it was, and froze as three huge men emerged from the shadows.

The explosion was the first bad sign Larry had. Then again, it had been what woke him up, so perhaps there had been others, but that was the first one he noticed.

Larry had been on his guard post, catching a quick forty winks, when the enormous explosion knocked him out of his chair and landed him on the floor. Shortly afterward, three guards ran past him, screaming. That was the second bad sign.

The third, oddly enough, was the twenty-something security guards that came running back from the other direction, armed with their intensity lasers. If Larry'd been thinking, he would've hidden under his desk until it was all over, but unfortunately the captain caught sight of him and yelled, "Come on, you! Get your ass down there!"

So Larry had broken his own intensity laser out of the locker and stormed down there with the others.

Then he'd heard the roar. That'd been the fourth bad sign.

Larry wasn't exactly certain what all the bad signs added up to. After all, he didn't usually deal with odd-looking teenagers covered in glowing red energy who could rip through an entire platoon in thirty seconds.

Well… maybe he had. Kid Flash, at that job three weeks ago. But that kid hadn't actually ripped people apart, like this guy was doing. And he hadn't had any glowing red tails sprouting from his back either.

That was about as far as Larry's thought process went before the teenager in question suddenly materialized in front of him and knocked him back forty feet into the wall.

As Larry began to pass out, he was dimly aware of the approaching stomp of many feet. "Get it! Stop him!" He heard, and then all was blackness.

Sakura woke up fairly quickly. Her sensei's technique had kicked in shortly after she had passed out, and already it had regenerated most of her damaged cells. A large rip running across the front of her dress and a diminishing scar beneath it were the only souvenirs of the life-threatening gash that had been there when she'd gone unconscious.

Still, Sakura was surprised to find herself alive. She'd gone into that battle fully determined to kill Sasuke, and fully hoping to die in the process. It had almost worked, too. Sasuke had underestimated her—thought her to be the same weepy child when he'd left—and she'd managed to land quite a few blows before he'd managed to recover.

Of course, once he did recover and started taking her seriously, it'd been all over. Kakashi had saved her momentarily when he'd leapt in and started throwing kunai all over the place, but once Sasuke'd sent him flying with that Susanoo thing, she'd known it was over. He'd broken through all her defenses and sliced her open before she'd even managed to land another solid blow.

Sasuke…

A lone tear traced its way down her cheek. Silly, really. She'd known, even going into that battle, that Sasuke would attack her. She'd expected him to. Almost wanted him to. But the coldness and effectiveness with which he'd done it…

Not a hint of hesitation. Not a hint of regret. She'd looked into those eyes and seen nothing but darkness.

A groan to her left suddenly brought her back to the world. A badly wounded Neji was lying next to her, along with a surprisingly thin Chouji. Just to her left, she caught a glimpse of a green-clad arm sticking out of a pile of trash at an odd angle.

Eyes widening, Sakura quickly set to work. She dug Lee out of the trash and assessed his condition. Lee had opened up six of the eight celestial gates, she remembered that. But had he opened any more?

From the looks of it, no. His body had taken a substantial beating, and there were quite a few burns and slices on him, but he was still alive. For the moment, she stopped all the bleeding and stabilized his condition, then moved on.

A quick diagnosis of Chouji made her gasp. His body was rapidly deteriorating. Quickly she fumbled in his pouch and brought up his pill container—empty. He must have taken the last shortly after she went down, she'd told him strictly not to use the red.

Fortunately, Tsunade had dealt with these pills before, and the Akimichi now had an antidote to counteract the effects. Sakura dug around in his pouch some more and brought out a syringe. Unbuckling Chouji's armor, she stabbed the needle down into his heart. Chouji cried out and thrashed a little.

"Wha… What are you doing?"

Sakura glanced over to meet Neji's troubled gaze. Obviously unable to move his head, the most he could do was stare up at her.

"Chouji took the red pill." She replied evenly. "This antidote should stop the degeneration." She turned to him. "Let's get a look at you."

Neji was easily the least wounded of the three. Hardly surprising, given his fighting style. The Gentle Fist relied more on subtle jabs than on hard, straightforward attacks, and was largely a defensive school of combat. Still, his left arm was completely broken, and more than a few ribs on his left side were cracked.

"That big fellow with the orange hair…" He muttered as her hands lit with green fire. "I was heading toward Sasuke and I was focusing for an attack, I wasn't watching him. Stupid mistake…"

"Don't worry about it." Sakura whispered. "Just stay still for now."

"Ugh." Neji turned up his head. "Where are we, anyway?"

Sakura shook her head. "I have no idea. Turn on your Byakugan and see if you can find the others. And watch our perimeter." She cast an anxious look around. "I don't like this place."

Ino was just deciding that this probably wasn't a dream when there was a blue blur just to her left, and suddenly there was a man, falling right next to her. Smiling, he babbled something and grabbed hold of her.

How bizarre. A man, spouting gibberish, who appeared out of nowhere and now was falling alongside her. There didn't seem to be anything supporting him. He was wearing a tight blue suit similar to Lee's training outfit. And he was had a… cape? Was that a cape?

Perhaps this was a dream.

Suddenly Ino realized they weren't falling anymore. In fact, ever since the man had grabbed hold of her, they had been slightly slowing down and were even now drifting gracefully to the pavement. She now also noticed that the man was holding Sai in his left hand and Shino in his right while supporting her in the middle.

Gently he lowered them to the street. Ino was dimly aware of people gathering around and murmuring, pointing at the man. The world was growing dark, though, and as the ground rose up to meet her she faded back into oblivion.

"Anyone yet?"

"No." Neji responded. He was standing up now and looked to be fully recovered.

"Found any of the others?" Sakura asked, pumping chakra into a now-conscious Lee. Beside her, Chouji had pulled out a bag of chips (from where, she couldn't imagine) and begun eating.

"No."

"Try a wider range then." Sakura frowned. "I don't understand why the others wouldn't be nearby. You're sure they're not anywhere near?"

"I'm sure." Neji responded, a trifle annoyed. "Believe me, I wouldn't be able to miss them in this world."

"How so?" Sakura turned her head to look at him.

Neji snorted. "Sakura, I can identify nearly two hundred people within fifty feet of us, most of them asleep. None of them have any chakra."

"What?" Sakura stopped for a moment. Chouji looked up in surprise. Lee's eyes widened and he let just the tiniest "oooooh!"

"Precisely. No chakra coils at all," nodded Neji. "Either the entire population of this city can disguise their chakra flawlessly, or they cannot use it. If our friends were anywhere nearby, I would be able to seek them out simply by the color of their chakra."

"Neji-san! Are you saying that no one here can use chakra?" Lee's face had suddenly brightened.

"That does seem to be the case, yes."

"Ooooh!" Lee's eyes shone with manly tears. "How glorious! An entire city of people exploding with the springtime of youth! I must meet with the inhabitants so I may spread my youthful enthusiasm! Yosh!"

"Lee!" All three hissed at him. "Quiet!"

Lee quieted down immediately. "Sorry." He whispered. Stealth and silence had never been strong points with him.

"All done with you. Take it easy for a bit, though." Sakura's hands stopped glowing and she stepped away from Lee.

Lee nodded eagerly and promptly began to strap his weights back on. Apparently, for him, 'taking it easy' did not include leaving his enormous weights off.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura turned to Neji. "You said we're in a city. Do you recognize it?"

There was a slight hesitation. "No." He said finally. "As a matter of fact, I cannot recall seeing anything like it before. If I had to guess…" he stopped suddenly.

"What? What is it?" Chouji glanced over.             

"There is a man approaching us." Neji answered, quickly and calmly. "He has no chakra, but he is moving at a disquieting rate of speed toward our exact position."

"Crap." Sakura grunted, pushing herself to her feet. "How'd he know where we were?"

"I don't know."

"Too late to do anything about it now anyway,” shrugged Sakura, feeling around in her pouch.  “And I’m out of soldier pills.  He all alone?”

“For the moment.”  Neji nodded.  “Still…”

“Where there’s one, there’s bound to be more,” agreed Sakura.  “Probably a ways behind, if you can’t see them yet, but they’ve got to be coming.  This one is likely just a scout.  We’d better get lost.”

Neji eyed Sakura.  “There’s only one of him and four of us.  And he has no chakra.”

Sakura snorted as she hauled Lee to his feet.  “With what we’ve been through, most of us might as WELL have no chakra.  I’m about drained myself, Lee’s still recovering from the six gates he opened, and Chouji…”  Sakura paused as she pulled Chouji upright.   “…well, look at him.”

“I hate being thin.”  Chouji studied his flat stomach despondently.

Sakura gave a little smile before turning to face Neji.  “We don’t have the resources to take this guy out, at least not before the others get here.  The best we can hope for is to lose them in the city.

Neji looked about to say something, but stopped and tensed suddenly. "Too late.  He's here." He announced, pointing toward the roof.

As if on cue, a dark figure swept down from the overhanging darkness and landed directly in front of them. "Not bad." A gravelly voice remarked in perfect Japanese.

"Leave us alone." Sakura gritted out. "Who are you, anyway?"

The man's gaze turned onto Sakura. "I'm Batman."

"Nani? Nani o hanashiteiru? {What?  What did you say?}" Kiba asked, backing up a step.

One of the men nudged the other. "Dumb kid don't even speak English."

Glancing from one to the other, Kiba stumbled back another step. They were uttering strange sounds and pointing at him. The only weapon he could see was a knife, but if they were threatening him, a clearly-marked shinobi of the Leaf, they could hardly be mere mercenaries. And Kiba was not really feeling up to a full battle, especially without Akamaru.

"You from the Yamato clan, punk? You edgin' in on our territory?"

Yamato? As in, the Mokuton guy? They knew him?

"Hey, he understood that alright." One of the men snickered. "Man, Yamato's gotta be pretty dumb to start hiring punks like this kid."

"No kidding." Grunted the other. "Can't even stand up straight."

"Shut up." The one in the front ordered them. "Okay kid." He said. "We got a message for your bosses, but we ain't got no paper, so we're just gonna cut it into your face, okay?"

"Wakaranai.{I don’t understand}" Kiba shook his head. "Wakaranai. Nani o hanashiteiru?"

"Let's just get on with it." Grunted one, and dashed forward.

Kiba had no choice. He leapt at the man and attacked.

To his utter astonishment, the man used no jutsus whatsoever, and did not even appear to be good at taijutsu. He simply gaped at Kiba as he flew over his head and was completely unprepared for the roundhouse kick that hit him in the face.

"Ah, man, a Karate kid," groaned the head man. "I hate the karate kids."

"Does it matter?" returned the other, drawing a pipe from his coat. "They bleed like everybody else." They rushed at the teenager.

Feeling much more confident now in the knowledge he was fighting mercenaries and not shinobi, Kiba dodged the pipe easily and trapped the man's knife hand as it whistled at him. A little twist, and the knife clattered to the ground. In one fluid motion, Kiba let go of the man's hand, dodged another attack from the pipe by ducking, rolled under the man's feet, and let two kunai fly at him and his partner.

He watched amazed, as they tumbled to the ground. Blood seeped out from the body in slowly-growing pools. That was WAY too easy, thought Kiba.

"Omoshiroi.{Interesting}"

Kiba swung around at the new voice. "Nani? Nan des ka? {What?  What was that?}"

"Omoshiroi," repeated the voice as its owner strode into the light, clad in a blue trenchcoat with blue pants, blue hat, and an orange shirt. Kiba choked back an exclamation as he saw something else: the man had no face. There were no eyes, no nose, not even a mouth for him to use as he said: "Namae wa, nan des ka? {What’s your name?}"

Kiba blinked at the odd question but saw no need to withhold it. "Inuzuka Kiba." He replied.

"Kiba." The other mused in English. "Of course, Fang, referring most likely to the fabled Dragon Fang project. Why would the Illuminati send one here, though? Unless…" He glanced upwards at the building. "Of course. To infiltrate deserted Montgomery Ward warehouse. Front for the Starbucks franchise, most likely being used to assist in alien-mystic rituals." He nodded. "Obvious, in retrospect."

Kiba frowned. He couldn't understand the man anymore. "Nani o hanashiteiru?"

The man seemed to focus on him again. "I will need more information." He muttered to himself. "Ore to tsurete kuru. {Come with me.}"

"Nani?" Kiba jumped back. "Ie. Ie." He responded, shaking his head just in case the man didn't get the point.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Very well then." He said, switching back to English. "The hard way."

He rushed forward. Kiba, feeling unusually confident by now, prepared to meet him.

Unfortunately, this man was nothing like the other thugs. He glided under Kiba's jab, blocked his kick, and send one hand sweeping down to touch a pressure point on his neck. Kiba's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to the pavement.

The faceless man bent over him and picked him up. "Must remember to investigate warehouse at later date." He noted. "For now…," he glanced at the unconscious chunin, "interrogate suspect."

The appropriate chord of dread seemed to have been struck.  All four of the odd children stared at him in frozen astonishment.  Taking advantage of their surprise, Batman gave a quick perusal of the newcomers.

Teenagers, close in years.  One girl, three boys.  Abnormalities:  White eyes on boy, pink hair on girl, eyebrows on boy.  Possible meta applications—manipulative hair, laser/x-ray/telescopic vision.  Eyebrows inconclusive, perhaps a indicates an excess of hormones.  Steroid user?  Armor on third boy that of 17^th century Japanese Samaurai.   Kanji on armor for “food.”  Significance?  Name.  Designation.  Possible clue as to power.  Different meaning in other dimension?

While all this was flashing through Batman’s head, he also noted that all four looked wounded and worn out, and the one in green spandex looked curiously winded.  That, plus the surprisingly loose armor on the other boy, implied they had just spent a great deal of energy, most likely in the teleportation to this dimension. 

Of course, that didn’t make them innocent, or even harmless.  The first time these dimensional ruptures had hit, part of the Metro Tower had been blown up.  The others had been equally catastrophic.  Batman didn’t intend to risk finding out how bad this one could get.

The teenagers recovered with commendable speed.  “Batman?” snorted the girl, whom Batman had already marked as the leader.  “Nanda, ano bakana namae? {What kind of stupid name is that?}”

Batman ignored the sentiment.  “Omaera, ippun inai namae to Gotham no youji wo ie. {You have one minute to start telling me your name and business here in Gotham.}”

The attitude of the teenagers changed subtly.  A shift in posture, a slight adjustment in their grouping.  But to a practiced crimefighter, the signs were clear.  Their new postures were more balanced, and their new grouping more defensive.  Without even a word, the teenagers had switched into battle mode, and formed a squad.

This was bad.  They were clearly soldiers, and highly trained ones.  Let loose in Gotham, there was no telling what they might do.

“Matsu {I’m waiting,}” indicated Batman.

“Naze shitteiranakya? {And why do you need to know?}  Omae wa nan no tsumori? {What do you intend to do, exactly?}”  That was the white-eyed boy.

Batman stared straight back at the boy.  “Sore wa omaera ikanda. {That depends on you.}  Demo, otonashiku tsurete kuru no hou ga ii. {But if you’re wise, you’ll come with me quietly.}  Ore wa shitsumon ga aru.  {I have some questions you need to answer.}”

The white-eyed boy glanced at the girl.  She gave a short nod.  “Hayaku oitsuke.  {Catch up soon.}”

“Hai.”  The white-eyed boy launched himself forward.

"Get him, get him!" shouted the commander over the roar of laser cannons. "Not there you idiots! Back there—no over—wait now he's—just shoot him already! Reinforcements!" He shouted into his headset. "We need reinforcements!"

"Captain, what is going on down there?" A cold voice rang from his speaker.

The captain turned a few shades paler. "We… we have a situation, sir."

"So I hear." The impatience bled from the speaker. "What kind of situation is it?"

"Sir, we have an unprecedented breach in Sector 14!" The Captain reported. "Four intruders, three of which are down already." The captain decided not to mention that apparently they had been down since 'penetrating' the building. "We're experiencing some difficulties with the last one, though, sir!"

"In what way?"

"Well, it…. It…" the captain fumbled for a moment for words. "It's like a demon, sir! It's got some kind of energy shield that makes bullets bounce off, and it moves too fast for us to hit it with anything bigger!"

"Get the heavy artillery in place and then deploy the counter measures we developed against the Flash." The voice directed. "Once it freezes him, take him down, but do not terminate. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" The captain snapped his speaker off. "You there! Jonesy! Get that sonic disruptor to the back of the hallway! Smith! Run over to 317 and get the Peashooter out! The rest of you, keep on him! Don't let him stop!"

There was a small explosion and some guards went flying overhead.

"Get in there you louts! What are you waiting for? Any others with sonic disruptors? Bring them to the rear of the column!" The explosions were getting closer. "C'mon, keep it moving, what do you think the boss is paying you for?"

"Captain!" A soldier tugged at his elbow. "Captain, Smith is back with the Peashooter!" He gestured to miniaturized tank-like vehicle speeding down the hallway. An enormous gun sat atop it, connected by a pipe to a vat of some strange liquid.

"About time!" The captain wheeled around. "Smith! Get that over here! You other men, fall back! Fall back!" He turned to Smith. "Soon as you get a clear shot, fire." He muttered. "Once he does, you others, zero in on it and hit it with the sonic disruptors."

"Sir." The others nodded.

Men came flying back, shooting as they ran. The clearing hallway gave the captain a full glimpse of his enemy. Crouched on all fours, the teenager had curiously red eyes and fangs. Energy bubbled off him in a shroud-like covering. Two tails of pure glowing power sprouted from his back. Exultant in the clearing hallway, it roared aloud to celebrate its triumph over the fleeing soldiers.

"Take it." The captain whispered.

The Peashooter fired three times in rapid succession. Every time it fired, twelve great blobs of massy goo shot from the cannon and smacked into the strange red creature. They stuck to him, weighing him down. The creature roared in fury and thrashed about, yet already the strange red energy was dissolving the blobs imprisoning it.

"Shoot you morons! Shoot!" The captain shouted at the others.

"But sir, Johnson and Larry are still in the way of…"

"SHOOT!"

Four Sonic disruptors fired into action, sending a wall of pure sound at the rampaging creature. It thrashed even more furiously, clutched its head in its hands, roared aloud. The gooey balls were almost gone now.

The captain's Intensive Laser Rifle shot out. With breathtaking accuracy he fired, sending the beam straight through the creature's chest.

Doubling over, the creature gave one last roar and then lay still. The energy around him faded.

"Check Johnson and Larry." The captain ordered. "B-team, with me! Secure the prisoners!"

The guards tentatively approached the blonde laying on the floor. At an irritable wave from the captain, others jogged down the hall to find the other three "intruders" the initial guards had reported.

"Jeez, cap'n, you shot him in the chest!" one of the guards marveled. "Didn't the boss say he wanted him unharmed?"

"He said alive. A wound like that'll heal, with proper medical attention. And it should keep him down for a while. Clap a gas mask on him and give him enough sedative to stay out of it." Glancing over, he shouted, "Report on Larry and Johnson?"

"Uh… they're dead sir. Couldn't take the sonic, looks like, their brains are comin' outta their ears."

"Hm." The captain turned back to the blond lying on the floor, already being sedated and secured. "Add that to the ones this guy killed. How many does that make?"

A slight pause. "At least thirty, sir. Need to get an exact count to be sure."

"Do it."

"Sir." A lieutenant saluted as he came forward. "We have the others. Is termination authorized?"

The captain turned and surveyed the other three. A man with dark hair drawn back into a ponytail, a girl in Chinese costume with her brown hair in two tight buns, and another girl with brilliant red hair. All teenagers. All unconscious.

"Negative on that. Keep them sedated and secured like this one." He gestured. "No telling what they are or what they can do, but Mr. Luthor's going to want to look at them for sure."

Of the different choices available to his suspicious visitors, Batman had rated ‘flight’ at 43%, ‘fight’ at 47%, and ‘come along peaceably’ at 2%.

The strategy ‘fight AND flight’ had occurred to him, but it had earned an 8% likelihood because it didn’t make much sense.  Nonetheless, the point remained that he’d considered it, and the girl had barely finished saying her bit when he was already leaping into the air, above the white-eyed boy, and straight at the remaining teenagers.  He could fight later, right now he had to stop them from leaving. 

The boy in green spandex was in the lead.  A few seconds served to validate Batman’s first impression—these kids were trained.  And fast.  Though he seemed to be pulling his punches a little (why, Batman couldn’t imagine), the spandex kid attacked with a mixture of method and madness.  It was a very distinctive, and yet a very unique style.  Batman felt a brief desire to stretch the fight out, just to study the fighting style…

“AAAGH!”

Batman ducked just in time to let the girl’s slim fist go whizzing over his head.  A second later he had reason to be glad of that, as the wall behind him cracked with the force of the girl’s blow.  Definitely a meta.  He noted.  Strength related to unusually colored hair?  Samson-like phenomenon?  These coincidences were not uncommon.

Even as he pondered the question, his left elbow was shooting up, into the girl’s stomach.  Apparently her great strength did not come with great durability, for she doubled over with a grunt and just barely managed to catch herself from falling. 

Batman would have followed with a chop to the neck—it would have taken the girl out of the fight, and made things SO much simpler—but suddenly the spandex kid was attacking with a renewed vigor, and no longer pulling his punches.  His speed was nearly, but only nearly, inhuman, and if Batman hadn’t been getting the rhythm of the boy’s attacks, he might have not been able to keep up with it.

As it was, he had landed about five solid hits and was lining up a sixth when he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of a great whirling mass of red.  He leapt backwards, just in time to let the great ball of armor and emaciated teenager go crashing into the wall, directly next to the pink-haired girl.  The ball unrolled and swung around to face him, just as the girl rose to her feet.

Lashing out with a foot, Batman kicked back the spandex kid, and whirled about just in time to deflect a blow from white-eyes, who had come back to join the fight.  He didn’t quite manage to block all of it, and the teenager’s palm struck his shoulder lightly.

A stabbing pain shot through Batman’s armor and hardened nerves.  He could feel the muscle tearing, the straining of the tendons.  Nearly all his left arm felt slightly numb from the blow.

White-eyes had whipped away from his counter-stroke and now stood between him and the others again.  “Ie  {Go}.”  He said.

“Iya. {No way,}” growled the girl, a dangerous glint in her eyes.  “Sore wa itakatta. Koko ni tomatte, ano hito wo taosu.  {That hurt.  I say we stay and give him a good pounding.}”

“Sakura-san, mae no kanten wa mada mottomo da. { Sakura, our original points still hold.}”  The boy pointed out.  “Hoka no hitotachi wa sugu kite orera wa jikan ga nainda.  {Those others can’t be far behind, and we have even less time to spare.}”  Subtly, the boy shifted position.    “Ano hito wa ore ni makasete, sugu oitsuku.  {Leave him to me, I’ll meet up with you soon.}”

The girl nodded slowly and glanced to the others.  Turning, they leapt into the darkness of the rooftops.

Batman was already moving after them, but this time White-Eyes was completely in his way.  “Iie. {No.}”  He said, bringing his arms up in a very odd stance.  “Omae no aite wa ore da.  {Your opponent is me.}”

Neji understood as few did the relation between chakra and power.  Not just because he was a genius Hyuuga with precise chakra control and implementation, but also because he was on a team with a taijutsu specialist and a weapons expert, neither of whom could employ chakra very well.  In his younger days, he had always assumed that this difference rendered him inherently stronger, but time (and Naruto) had changed this opinion.  Now, he had a much healthier appreciation for the capabilities of the ‘common’ ninja.

But this ninja—for so Neji had to call him, there was simply no other label—was on another level altogether.  He was like a melding of Lee AND Tenten, an insanely fast taijutsu specialist with an array of bizarre weaponry. True, he did not have Lee’s speed, but he more than made up for that in sheer unpredictability.  It was impossible to analyze his style, for either he had none, or he had so many that it was impossible to see how they related.

Worse, the man seemed to have grasped the essence of the Gentle Fist style nearly immediately.  His left arm had an obvious stiffness to it, and its blows were decidedly weak, but he took great care to avoid so much as a touch from Neji, deflecting blows instead of blocking them.  And often, he merely whipped away and hurled bombs or odd-looking shuriken at him.

The upshot of this was that Neji found himself relying more and more on the Kaiten, both as the best way to deflect the ninja’s projectiles, and as the surest means of blocking all his strikes.  And it certainly forced the ninja back. 

Neji might have felt pretty good about that, if he hadn’t already used up most of his chakra in the battle with Sasuke before.  The few last spins he had in him were fast running out.

The man whipped away from his jab and leaped back, hurling an assortment of small artillery as he did so.  Neji attempted to conserve chakra by dodging his way through them, and received a slash across the cheek for his pains.  Ignoring it, he threw up a hand to block the stranger’s incoming attack.  He caught the slight motion of the leg and jerked backwards just in time to avoid the foot that went whistling just shy of his abdomen.

That did it.  Neji’s gaze hardened and he launched himself straight at the man, feet twirling and arms outstretched in the dreaded preliminary form of the Hyuuga Kaiten.  A whirling blue bubble of pure death surrounded him as he charged forward.

The man backflipped away, tossing an array of objects that splintered or exploded harmlessly against Neji’s shell of energy.  The glowing whirlwind charged onward, shredding or blowing aside anything in its path as it vainly sought to catch the elusive crimefighter.  All the while, Batman continued to hurl back useless projectiles.

Which was why Neji did not pay attention to the small blinking object he threw right in Neji’s path, instead simply charging over it as it blinked faster and faster.

BOOM!

The glowing blue shield broke apart into little wisps of energy as the white-eyed teenager went flying.  A sickening crack was heard as his body slammed into the wall, and then he slumped down and lay still.

Batman eyed the boy carefully as he approached, but everything indicated a true state of unconsciousness.  Breath rate, eye movement (or lack therof), muscle tension… the teen was well and truly out of it.

Injured too.  A quick examination showed that apparently that hit against the wall had completely broken a few ribs.  Surprising, but perhaps they’d been cracked before the battle.  The wound wasn’t life-threatening and could doubtless be handled by paramedics while Batman tracked the others…

Except he didn’t want paramedics touching this kid.  And those others, whoever they were, had to be long gone by now.  A chase would be worse than pointless.

Batman touched the ear of his cowl. "Alfred." He said. "Have the Computer alert me of any and all police reports concerning three teenagers moving at approximately twenty miles an hour.

"Sir?"

"Just do it. Any word from the League on the other dimensional rifts?"

A short pause. "Superman reported in with some people who fell from the sky."

"Hm." Batman digested that bit of information. "Anything else?"

"No sir. The League investigated the other sites but found nothing. Perhaps an anomaly?"

"Perhaps, but not likely." Batman frowned in thought. "Something's wrong, Alfred. The rifts don't usually open up all over the place like this. And there were kids at this one… dangerous kids. If there were others at the other sites…" Batman shook his head. "Tell Clark to put the League on alert. There's no way of knowing how many got through, or where they are now."

"Tch." Sasuke brushed some leaves off his coat. "That was annoying."

"Who the heck WAS that guy?" Frowning, Suigetsu glared at the park they'd left. "He just… came out of nowhere. Like that Tobi dude."

Juugo shrugged. "I don't know. Never seen anything like him before. All green and glowing and…" He frowned. "A relative of that Leaf taijutsu expert?"

"More likely a Kumo nin. But he didn't seem to have any headband, and besides this place is nowhere near Kumo." Suigetsu glanced around. "Come to think of it, where IS this place, anyway? And where's Karin?"

"I'm not sure. When the…"

"This is another dimension." Sasuke interrupted them. "Hatake Kakashi seems to have teleported us using his sharingan. Karin was probably outside of his attack, so she is not here." He let a small huff of frustration. "This is problematic."

"Hmm." Suigetsu pondered that for a moment. "Well… do you know how to get us back?"

"No," responded Sasuke, "but I will. I am not familiar with the technique he used, but it cannot be difficult to imitate."

Juugo nodded quietly. "But until then, we're stuck here."

"Exactly." Sasuke replied. "We need somewhere to stay while I learn the technique."

"Hide, you mean," snorted Suigetsu. "That… whatever-it-was, was looking for us, and there's only one reason why people are ever doing that."

Sasuke coldly eyed the silver-haired man. "I mean we need a secure position. We know little about this dimension, and I'd prefer to act from a position of strength." He pointed across the water. "We'll use that building on the island."

"Yeah, that looks so totally non-conspicuous and out-of-the-way." Suigetsu squinted across at the gleaming building. "There are lights on inside. Might be occupied."

A shrug was his only response. "That's too bad for the occupants. Prepare to move."

"Um… Sasuke–sama?" Juugo spoke up from the rear. "What are we going to do with her?" He indicated the girl in his arms.

"You brought her with us?" Suigetsu almost laughed.

Juugo shifted uneasily. "She was wounded… and we were in a hurry."

"Leave her." Sasuke ordered him, without sparing a glance for the white-eyed girl. "She's of no further use to us." He turned back to the harbor and the odd T-shaped tower on the island. "We have more pressing concerns."

Chapter Text

"Dude, do you ever sleep?" Cyborg eyed Robin as he came bounding up the stairs.

"Not if I can help it," came the response. "What's the matter? Why's the proximity alert going off?"

"Hard to say." Cyborg pressed a few buttons on the panel. "Something approaching over the water at high speed. Could just be a boat, but it's heading pretty much straight for…" He paused as the image came onscreen.

The two were silent for a moment.

                "Well, it's not a boat." Robin reasoned.

"Yeah," muttered Cyborg. "Guess we better batten down the hatches. Anybody we know?"

"Don't recognize them." Robin shook his head. "Too slow to be part of the Flash family. Don’t seem to be friendly." He turned to regard the other Titans as they came blinking up the stairs. "Titans, rea…"

The rest of his statement was broken off as something came smashing through the front of the building.

"Fell out of the sky?"

"I was about two miles away when it happened." Superman shrugged. "Just saw it out of the corner of my eye. I could be mistaken."

"Maybe they were skydiving and forgot their parachutes," suggested Flash.      

Hawkgirl snorted. "The plane too?"

She, Flash, and Superman were standing in the observation room above the medical ward, watching their three new visitors (or as Green Arrow had caustically remarked, captives) being tended to in the room below. Several medics were hooking them up to life-support machines, and J'onn J'onnz, resident Martian and telepath, was supervising. As they watched, Mr. Terrific entered the room and tapped J'onn on the shoulder, who nodded and left.

"There might have been a plane, I can't be sure. All I saw were people falling. Didn't really stop to think how they'd gotten there, I just flew over as quickly as I could." Superman rubbed the back of his neck in farmboy-like fashion. "I got Bats' message shortly after I set them down.  Seemed like the best fit.”

The assembled heroes glanced up as J'onn entered the room. "Well?" Hawkgirl asked.

"They are… puzzling." The Martian admitted, glancing back at the three teenagers on their respective beds. "I cannot fully probe their minds."

"You mean like with Thanagarians?" Hawkgirl asked.

"No… not like that.  Reading their memories is not impossible, indeed some are quite accessible. But certain parts of their mind are blocked off." Frowning in thought, J'onn continued, "The resistance is more similar to the technique Batman sometimes employs."

Flash snickered and Superman closed his eyes in frustration but Hawkgirl merely looked interested. "Are you saying they may have had training against this sort of thing?"

"It's possible." J'onn nodded. "Very good training, for them to have achieved it at such an early age and be able to maintain it while comatose…  but yes, I would say they probably were trained."

"So they've dealt with telepaths before, then."

"That seems likely."

Superman nodded. "All right, well, what memories DID you manage to get?"

"Regroup Titans!" Robin shouted. "Cyborg, take the big kid, Raven, the skinny one. Beast Boy and Star, you're with me on the elemental!"

An elemental. A WATER elemental. That made things enormously complicated, given the location of the Titan's tower. It meant that not only had none of the sensors detected the creature's approach, but that the thing could grow to near tower size and smash into the front.

Cyborg's defense systems never even had a chance to fire, the elemental had smashed any and all weapons to bits, allowing the other two to reach the tower unopposed. How exactly THEY’D gotten up to the control level so quick was another question—Robin’d seen no zip lines and he'd heard no jetpacks.

However, that was immaterial. The simple fact was that all three were now right on top of the Titans and needed to be dealt with. At least they had advantage of numbers. If they could split up the assailants, Robin felt confident they could take them down.

So as Cyborg ran at the strange red-haired kid, and Raven and the dark-haired one engaged in a staring contest, Robin and his allies ran for the hole in the wall and the strange many-toothed monster beyond it. Starfire took off and shot into the sky as Beast Boy transformed into an eagle while Robin simply shot a grappling hook up and jumped to the roof.

The plan, roughly, called for Starfire and Beast Boy to keep the creature corralled near the tower where Robin could hit it. They would overwhelm the creature with superior force and then return to help finish off the others.   Pretty good odds, considering the usual stakes.

Part of Robin worried, though. He knew nothing about any of the attackers, and he hated going into a fight blind. And whoever they were, the fact that they had confidently attacked the Titan headquarters meant that they also felt quite secure in their abilities, unless they simply meant to provide a diversion while a fourth member infiltrated the compound (Robin doubted that). So either they were arrogant or dangerous.

Still. The elemental had to be dealt with immediately.

Green energy shot from Starfire's fingertips, blasting bits of the creature's side away. Immediately fresh water flowed into the wound, restoring the damaged portion in seconds. Robin nodded, that was fairly standard for elemental creatures. A green eagle shot at the creature's back, rapidly shifting into a swordfish as it hit the surface and shifting just as quickly into a shark, moments before being spat back out.

Eyes narrowing, Robin caught sight of what Beast Boy had been aiming for. Deep in the center of the clear water mass, he could see a glimmer of something solid. That must be the elemental's brain, or controller. If they could hit it, the rest would fall apart.

The only problem was getting to it. Robin threw a few explosive pellets, leaping aside as one of the creature's tentacles smashed into the roof beside him. As he rolled to a stop, he saw the splatter damage from his grenades heal up just as quickly as it had been broken down.  So much for that.

The tentacle was still after him. He rolled backwards, flipped off to the side, and began running the length of the building. Carefully he measured the distance with his eyes. It would be close, but if he, Starfire, and Beast Boy coordinated their attacks, they might just…

A shrill scream suddenly distracted him.

"Raven!" He heard Beast Boy cry. The green eagle wheeled suddenly and shot for the interior of the building.

Cursing, Robin touched his communicator. "Cyborg?"

"Raven's down." Came the response. "She's alive though. That red-eyed kid is crazy fast, and he's got some kind of electricity ability. Beast Boy, do me a favor and take the red-head. He's a shape-shifter of some kind."

"After I get Raven!"

"She's fine, man! Just get the big kid!"

"Do as he says, Beast Boy." Robin spoke into the communicator, leaping away as another tentacle crashed into the roof, just inches away from him. "Cyborg, you sure you can take red-eyes?"

"You kiddin'? If he uses electricity, I'll just eat it up. And as fast as he is, mah laser's faster." Robin could almost hear the grin in his voice.

"Take him then. Star and I will have to make do by ourselves."  Suddenly finding himself at the end of the roof, Robin skidded to a stop and nearly fell over the railing.  Real graceful, Boy Wonder. He looked up as a watery shadow fell over him.

Before the appendage could smash down, a green blur shot past, and he found himself flying through the air in Starfire's arms.  "Robin!" The girl's face was filled with concern. "Is friend Raven alright? Will she be needing the evac? Should we perhaps…"

"She'll be alright. Beast boy and Cyborg are down there, they'll keep an eye on her." He pointed down. "We need to hit that little black dot inside him, Star. But it's just you and me, and it's gonna take a lot of coordination."

"Is that problem?" Starfire's face clouded over momentarily. "I thought you said you and I had skill at the coordination."

"We do." Robin grinned. "That's why this should be fun."

Well… this can't be good.

Naruto really couldn't think of any other way to appraise the fact that he seemed to be lying in a hard white bed in a hard white room with hard steel bands holding him down. The experience wasn't entirely novel—Granny Tsunade had sometimes ordered similar measures to keep him in hospitals—but it was disturbing, particularly as he doubted this was the Konoha.

First of all, the room itself didn't look familiar. Naruto had had frequent opportunity in his interesting career as a shinobi to observe hospital rooms, and he was on intimate terms with nearly every room in the Konoha medical facility. This one he did not recognize. It was nearly two stories high, stark white, padded all over, and had little in it besides Naruto and the bed.

Second of all, that bed didn't look familiar. More than that, it didn't look like any bed he'd ever seen before. There was no mattress, no pillow, and the blanket was a thin, almost paper-like sheet. Steel bands were passed over his arms, legs, torso, and even neck, keeping him nearly entirely immobilized. The little wiggling he could do convinced him of another interesting fact—the bed had joints. It felt as if the part of the bed each arm was attached to was hinged, so that the doctor could move Naruto's arms about without undoing the cuffs. The same applied for his legs.

Third of all, though, a portion of the white wall had just turned completely clear to reveal a man gazing down on him. Naruto would have shrugged even that off if the man hadn't been completely bald, dressed in the strangest clothes Naruto had ever seen, and flanked by two utterly bizarre samurai-like men.

This was definitely not Konoha. And being imprisoned in any place that was not Konoha was not good.

"Good morning." The man's voice echoed through a loudspeaker somewhere in the room; powerful, imperious, and just a touch smug. This man was used to getting what he wanted. "I'm sorry for the… accommodations, but I'm afraid you gave my men rather a start last night."

Last night. Naruto tried to recall what had happened. He'd been running to catch up with the others, because they'd gone off to hunt Sasuke. He'd gotten there…

Naruto's eyes went wide. "Where are my friends?" He demanded, throwing himself against the bands.

"Your friends?" The man arched an eyebrow. "We're taking care of them. They seemed badly wounded when they arrived, but they are quite safe—for the moment."

Naruto didn't quite like the tone of that last remark. "Where am I?"  He asked, sinking back down onto the bed.   "And what's with the handcuffs?" 

"As I said, you gave my men quite a start last night. We had to make sure you didn't go rampaging around killing people again." Naruto froze at that comment. "Also, I don't think you quite understand the position that you're in. After all, you four were trespassing, a very serious offense when you're dealing with a man like myself. You're hardly in a position to be asking questions."

The man's smile made a shiver run down Naruto's spine. "Screw you!" he yelled. "Where am I?"

"I don't think you heard me the first time." The man's gaze turned cold. "You are in no position to ask questions. You and your friends are in serious trouble. Even without the breaking and entering, you killed nearly thirty of my men."

Thirty? Naruto paused. He didn't think... but then, he was rarely clear-headed in Kyuubi mode. He knew he'd tapped into the fox's power a little when he'd charged at Sasuke, but then... then he had a foggy memory of throwing men left and right in a strange white hallway, and a vague dread of those men getting to his friends. But he didn't think he'd killed thirty.

In any case, that still didn't explain how he'd gotten here, or even where "here" was. And the man had said "four" of you. That meant there were only three of his friends here. Where were the others? And sensei?

The man seemed to take his silence as submission, for his voice took on more pleased tone. "Fortunately, I am… interested in how you managed that. It's no small feat for you to break in here, or to kill so many people. You seem to have a great deal of power." He leaned a little closer to the glass. "And power interests me."

Naruto suppressed another shiver.

"I suppose I could simply cut into you and find out, but I’m not sure it’d do much good," mused the man. "Meta powers aren’t always so… scientific.  Certainly, if you simply told me instead, it would be much less troublesome—and painful—for all concerned.." He paused a moment. "Don't you agree?"

Now, Naruto wasn't smart, but he wasn't nearly as stupid as he used to be. Four years ago, he might have simply yelled "screw you" at the man again and ended up getting his comrades and him sliced open. Granted, that was better than the alternative—give up village secrets—but it still wasn't ideal.

The ideal was to deceive this man as cleverly as possible so he didn't cut them up. And given that the man apparently didn't know about the Kyuubi, chakra, or—presumably—Konoha, Naruto felt he had pretty good odds of doing just that.

So after a moment's hesitation, Naruto slowly nodded.

"Good." The man smirked. "Now, tell me everything you know about this strange red energy you have. Where it comes from, how it works, how I can replicate it… anything that might be useful."

Sasuke frowned in annoyance at the odd opponent facing him. He was tall, broad, and dark-skinned, possibly a missing Kumo-nin. Nearly half his body was sheathed in armor, and one eye—vaguely similar to the device Deidara had once worn—glowed an angry red.  Whatever he was, the man was a formidable opponent. His armor seemed to have lightning coursing through it, and Sasuke's chidori blade was having no effect. Worse yet, he seemed to be able to send pure chakra out of one of his arms, much like Juugo. Sasuke had to keep moving about to avoid the lethal blasts that streamed at him.

I need more penetration than the blade, he decided, collecting chakra and focusing natural energy through his arm. His hand began to crackle with lightning.

The man glanced at him and his eyes widened. "Dude, that is freaky."

Ignoring the sentiment, Sasuke rushed forward, darting under the man's outstretched hands and stabbing toward the armored stomach. Unable to defuse all the energy, the armor gave, and Sasuke's hand smashed into the Kumo-nin's chest. The man howled in pain and his arm swiped down, Sasuke leaping back before the expected counterattack.

The thing spilling out of the man's chest, on the other hand, was completely unexpected. The man seemed to have no stomach at all. Metal wires and hoses poked out from where flesh and blood should be. The whole wound crackled with Raiton energy and some kind of black blood came spurting out.

Unbidden, the words came to him. That is freaky.

"Aw, man, my oil line!" The man scowled in fury, glancing at the wound. He looked back up at Sasuke. "That thing was practically brand new, dude! Do you have any idea how hard it is to replace those?"

Sasuke made no reply.

The man heaved himself back up. "Now I'm angry!"

Dodging as another blast of pure chakra destroyed the wall behind him, Sasuke considered his options. He felt reasonably confident in Juugo's ability to deal with the annoying green… creature that he was fighting. Suigetsu, though, was dealing the flying girl and the boy.

That boy bothered Sasuke. Something in the look of him told Sasuke he would not go down easily.

He needed to finish this fight quickly. "I tire of this." He commented, leaping away from another blast. He locked gazes with the armor-clad man. "Tsukuyomi!" he cried, activating the genjutsu.

As expected, the man froze in place before crumpling to the ground. Sasuke, smiling grimly, whipped out his sword and ran forward…

…only to be met by four pounds of metallic fist right in his face.

"Dude, I don't know what kind of weird mindo-mojo you just pulled there," said the man, struggling to his feet. "But it ain't gonna work on me. You may fool the one half of me, but you can't fool the other half."

Sasuke had only a few seconds to consider what that might mean before another blast of Chakra shot toward him.

"They're not any of ours, I can tell you that," observed the heavyset woman as she peered through the glass. "Meta experiments have been discontinued ever since Cadmus."

Superman frowned. "Boy Scout or not, I’m not stupid, Waller." Despite several years of working with the Justice League as the government liason, many league members, including Superman, still saw Amanda Waller as the former head of the Cadmus project. They trusted her exactly as far as they had to.

"Believe what you want, but they're not anyone I've seen before." Waller shrugged. "In any case, I don't suppose the Justice League would care to explain why they have three minors imprisoned without jurisdiction in the Metro Tower?"

Superman shifted uncomfortably. Green Arrow, who had arrived alongside Waller, snorted and threw a pointed look at Hawkgirl, who simply rolled her eyes. Finally, J'onn spoke up. "Batman believes them to be visitors from another dimension."

"Does he?" Waller grunted, her tone just a trace less hostile. Though she might never admit it, the woman had a grudging respect for the Dark Knight. "And he suggested that you welcome the extradimensional visitors by imprisoning them against their will?"

"We’re not… imprisoning them.”  Superman insisted. “Not really.  They were badly injured when I found them, the medics are mostly repairing the damage."

Flash nodded. "Bringing them here is just part of the protocol we have for these things.  We call it procedure… what was that again?"

"Procedure Isolate and Mediate." J'onn supplied. "It is similar in design to the government's First Contact protocol. We remove the extra-dimensional visitors from civilian areas where we can observe and interact with them in a controlled environment."

Waller did not seem to put much stock in the assertion. "Hmph. I suppose that's what the manacles are for."

"My preliminary observations suggest caution is justified." J'onn warned. "I managed to ascertain that they are some kind of soldiers from a place called 'Konoha.' Their wounds are the result of a recent mission."

"These? But…" Superman fumbled for words. "These are just kids!"

"They're sixteen, Supes. We have league members about that age."  Flash reminded him.

Waller was eying J'onn suspiciously. "I thought you said you couldn't read their minds."

"Not fully, no. The pale boy seems to have some sort of barrier around his mind, and the girl's mind…" J'onn hesitated. "But the second boy, the one with the bugs, is much easier to penetrate. He has some form of mental defense, but not as much as the other ones. I owe most of my knowledge about the three of them to him."

Waller nodded, apparently satisfied. "What have you learned, apart from what you told me about this 'Konoha?'" She noticed the members exchange looks. "Or is this some 'League Business' that I shouldn't ask about?" She added sarcastically.

"Not at all, Miss Waller, it's just that most of what we have isn't very helpful, and the rest of it doesn't make sense." J'onn gestured to the beds. "We know that the pale boy is called Sai, the girl is called Yamanaka Ino, and the boy whose mind I penetrated is known as Aburame Shino. Although the exact nature of their mission is unclear, I gather that they were in a pitched battle with a fugitive of some kind."

Green Arrow cast another look at the wounded teenagers. "Pretty powerful one, I'd guess."

"That does seem to be the thrust of the boy's memories." J'onn nodded.

"Do you think they were pursuing the fugitive here?" Superman frowned. "Is that why they're in our dimension?"

J'onn paused. "That's one of the difficulties. I cannot find any memory of their having come here, or even of having planned to come here. Given their state of arrival—" he once again gestured at the beds "—I doubt they are part of a pursuit team, or an invasion."

"But you still consider them dangerous."

"Oh yes." J'onn nodded. "From what I saw of their combat with the fugitive, it appears that the boy Shino can control bugs, while the girl Ino is capable of some kind of… possession, and the boy Sai…" here J'onn grimaced, "…can bring drawings to life."

The others stared at him.

"The images were somewhat unclear." He admitted.

"Fine." Waller grunted in annoyance. "You've convinced me. I'll inform the President we have an off-world situation and recommend he leave it in your hands. Before I go, though…" she gazed at the others. "…is there any chance that that fugitive, or any more of these dimensional visitors, are still running around out there?"

"There's at least three more," answered a gravelly voice behind her, "and they're all dangerous." A somewhat weathered-looking Batman dumped the limp form of a pale-eyed teenager to the floor. "Ran into some in Gotham. Managed to get this one, but the others ran off. Take him in, J'onn, see what you can learn from him." The Martian nodded and wordlessly signaled two orderlies to take the unconscious boy. Batman turned his full attention to the crowd. "You mentioned a fugitive. Care to share?"

Robin flipped through the air, shooting another couple pellets at the watery monstrosity. Three. He noted. That left him exactly four left, plus the special one he was keeping in reserve. He'd need to conserve them if this plan was to work.

It was amazing, really. He hadn't even had to spend a lot of time telling Starfire what to do. The plan required precision timing and minute execution, yet Robin had no qualms about it whatsoever. Starfire and he would pull it off flawlessly. On one level, he supposed that was simply because they'd gotten so good at what they did. But on another level, he knew it was a lot more than that.

Robin had always been good at fighting, but battling alongside Star always felt so fluid, so easy. He could predict her every move, and she could anticipate his every attack. Almost instinctively, they knew when to cover, support, or assist one another. It was like some strange kind of second sense… it was just so right.

So despite all of the variables involved in this plan, he knew they could pull it off.

He just hoped Beast Boy and Cyborg were doing alright. That one side of the building was virtually erupting with laser fire. Cyborg was still on the line, though apparently the red-eyed kid was a bit more trouble than he’d planned. The usually chatty Beast Boy, however, was silent. Whether that was because he was unconscious, too busy to talk, or simply incredibly angry, Robin had no idea.

In any case, he and Star needed to wrap this up and get back to help them.

He picked up a charge in his hand and watched as Starfire flew in circles around the creature's head. Within the massive watery blob, he could see the dark speck moving about, tracking her movements and initiating counterattacks, apparently, unaware that the gambit slowly brought him closer and closer to Robin’s position on the tower.

Robin waited until he judged them close enough, and then ran toward the edge, leaping into the air. Already Starfire was drawing back, her hands charging with energy.  As he flew over the creature's head, Robin chucked down two of his remaining charges, one on either side. The dark speck did not even glance up as Robin fired his grappling hook back to the building, a smile on his lips.

The charges exploded against the creature's sides. The speck glanced around in surprise, drawing himself toward the center of his watery armor…

…right into the path of Starfire's enormous energy blast.

When he heard the scream, Robin's grapple had already carried him halfway back, but he spared a glimpse backwards anyway. Starfire's sustained burst was eating up the entire front of the creature, and the black speck was fleeing to the far side of the blob. But even without looking, Robin knew Starfire wouldn't reach him. She didn't have the energy to keep that up for long.

Good thing she didn't have to.

The roof rose up to meet Robin's feet, and he threw himself into a roll before bracing out his feet and sliding to a stop. Without even waiting for the pain in his legs to fade, he leapt back up, running again for the roof's edge, this time without his grapple. His hands flew for the two remaining charges.

Starfire's energy was gone. The glow had faded and she looked slightly pale as she drew back, watching all the water she had blown away seconds ago flow back into place. Robin could see the black speck practically sneering at her.

The black speck that was still on the far side of the blob, away from Starfire. The side closest to the tower. The side closest to Robin.

As he leapt from the tower, Robin threw his last two explosive charges at the creature's back, and just as quickly threw the last, special capsule right after them.

The capsule was special because Robin didn't carry many of them. He didn't carry many because he didn't have to use them very often. He didn't have to use them very often because there were limited uses for exploding liquid nitrogen containers. After all, how often do you need to freeze a large amount of water?

The first two charges burst the surface of the water. The capsule shot into the blob just as the surface closed over again.

One, two…

The inside of the blob exploded into crystalline whiteness. The black speck didn't even have a chance to move before it was encased in ice. The rest of the creature simply collapsed, and all that was left was an enormous piece of ice, floating in the bay.

Robin had just enough time to acknowledge the fact that he was in freefall before there was another green blur and he found himself being hugged by a very happy, very enthusiastic, very strong Tamaranian.

"We did it Robin!" She squealed. "We did it! Just like you said!"

"Star…" Robin managed to wheeze. "Rib… cage…"

"Oh! I offer the apologies, Robin!" Starfire loosened her grip slightly.

"Thank… you."

"What do we do now?"

An explosion from the tower answered that question.

"Still no sign of Neji?"

Standing at the door, Lee simply shook his head in answer.

"Maybe he can't find us." Chouji volunteered. "We're in a big city, after all, and we ran a long way. Even the Byakugan might not be able to tell."

Sighing, Sakura shook her head. She hated to crush the boy's hopes, but she knew they had to look at it realistically. "We're in a city of people without chakra. Like he said himself, we'd stand out like a bright light.  If he was able to, he'd have found us by now."

The words and their implications hung heavy in the air. Chouji swallowed and bent his head. Lee sunk to his knees and braced himself against the wall. Sakura simply closed her eyes.

A ninja must not show his emotions in any situation. A ninja must prioritize his mission first and not show any tears.

Of all the rules in the ninja world, Sakura had always had the most difficult time with that one. Perhaps because she was a woman, perhaps because she'd always been tender-hearted, perhaps simply because she'd never gone through a real war. But they had no time to grieve for Neji. As long as they were in unknown territory, pursued by a presumably hostile force, they needed to keep moving. The room they'd broken into would hold them for the night, but not much longer. They needed to keep it together.  For the first time she truly understood the reasons behind that rule.

She understood now why you did it, but she still didn't know how.  And a small part of her wondered how many comrades you had to lose before you DID learn.

"We should rest." She managed. "Conserve our chakra. No telling when that man will be back."

"If he was coming, it seems like he should have caught up by now." Chouji suggested. "He probably lost us. I mean, he doesn't have the Byakugan, right?"

"He found us before."

Chouji frowned. "Yeah, that's true. Maybe we'd better set up some kind of watch?"

"Good idea." Sakura nodded brokenly.

"Guess that's me then." Chouji sighed, standing to his feet. "Well, it's not like either of you can." He said, in response to the stares. "Lee, you're injured all over, and Sakura… you've not only been healing, you've been punching holes in buildings. I've got the least injuries, and I can replenish just by eating." He glanced down at the bag of chips he'd found. "Which doesn't appear to be a problem."

Too tired and distraught to argue, Sakura yielded to Chouji's advice. Kneeling, she dusted off a portion of the floor and lay down on the concrete. From her prone position, she watched the chubby boy help Lee to his feet and then seat himself in the doorway, nonchalantly munching on chips. A part of her wondered how the Akimichi could stay so calm, but another part of her simply thanked Kami that he was.

Suddenly, something nudged her in the side, and she glanced up to see an apologetic Lee, carrying a huge piece of cardboard. "It will be softer." He insisted. "And cleaner. Please accept it, Sakura-san."

Sakura managed a slight smile. "Thanks, Lee." She half-sat up, accepting the cardboard and spreading it on the ground.  As she shifted over onto it, she glanced at him and frowned. "Don't you have one? There must be lots out there."

"Yosh!" The exclamation had little of its former enthusiasm, but somehow still sparked the gleam in Lee’s eye. "Sleeping on the ground hardens the muscles and strengthens the skin. I shall sleep for four hours on the ground, and if I cannot do that..."

Only Lee could turn sleeping into a training exercise, she reflected wearily. "It's okay, Lee. I get it. Thanks."

"You're welcome, Sakura-san." He started to move away, then, hesitating, spoke again. "Are you… feeling well, Sakura-san?"

Inwardly, Sakura groaned. Lee's devotion to her could be sweet at times, but at the moment it was simply annoying. "No, Lee. I'm not. We're stuck in a strange city, away from all our friends, being pursued by some mystery ninja who's already killed or captured Neji." She snapped. "I'm not feeling well at all, but there's not much I can do about it right now except get some sleep. So would you please let me rest now?"

She regretted the words almost immediately. Neji had not only been Lee's teammate, he'd been his "eternal rival." The spandex-clad chunin had lost more than anyone in the group, the last thing he needed was a taste of her irritation.

But to her surprise, Lee did not look hurt at all, merely serious. "I understand, Sakura-san. I too am not feeling well." He replied earnestly. "But do not worry. I shall protect you from whatever dangers we encounter, or I shall run nine thousand laps around this city!" For a second his eyes hardened. "And then I shall kill the one who harmed you."

Sakura stared at him for a moment. "And… if you can't do that?" There was always another side to Lee's self-imposed punishments.

"Then I shall die trying." Lee replied, deadly serious.

For a long time Sakura simply looked at him, studying his face, as if searching for a hidden meaning to his words.  Finally she turned over. "You'd better get to sleep, Lee." She said. Lee gave a little nod and turned to leave. "And Lee?"

He paused.

"Thanks."

"Sasuke-sama! Look out!" Juugo leapt aside as a red-and-green clad figure shot down from the roof. He recognized him—the nin-leader from before.

As the fight had gone on, Juugo had been feeling worse and worse about it. Granted, he hadn't liked it to begin with—the inhabitants of the building hadn't exactly done anything to them—but he'd become used to things like that long ago.

But now his unease stemmed from an entirely different cause. He was no longer sure they could match these fighters. The fighter who'd attacked him initially—the blue armored one—had been a formidable warrior, much like Juugo in his incredible strength and ability to shoot pure chakra. Fortunately that warrior had quickly gone after Sasuke, and Juugo'd had to deal with some odd green creature instead. He hadn't expected him to put up much of a fight, but the creature had the disturbing ability to shift his very form. Juugo'd wasted a lot of time trying to figure out if it was a genjutsu, and after he'd decided it wasn't, he'd spent even more time trying to predict the creature's incredibly varied attacks. He hadn't really been in danger, but if Sasuke-sama hadn't used his black flames on the creature and the blue warrior (and Juugo, incidentally), it would have taken significantly longer to defeat him

But now the other two were back, and Juugo was feeling even worse, because if they were back, that meant Suigetsu was down, and THAT meant these two were powerful. He wasn't sure, but he thought the orange girl could even fly.

At the moment, that wasn't important, however. At the moment, what was important was that the green and red one was charging toward Sasuke-sama, something that could not be allowed. Roaring, Juugo ran at the insolent nin.

He had hardly set one foot in front of the other, however, when a sudden blur punched all the air out of him. By the time he realized he'd been struck, he was already smashing into the back wall, an orange and powerful girl shooting towards him. He barely managed to get his arms up before she plowed into his midsection, driving him through the wall and out the other side of the tower.

Distantly, Juugo noted that his observation about the girl was completely accurate. She COULD fly. They were nearly fifty feet above the water right now, and Juugo couldn’t exactly fly.  But he could do the next best thing.

Juugo's back erupted into rockets of pure chakra, propelling them toward the water as he latched hold of the girl. Sensing the sudden change in momentum, she struggled wildly against his arms, but Juugo retained his grip. Though the girl was surprisingly strong, he was stronger.

Then, moments before impact, her eyes lit up with a strange green light.

Juugo saw the flash before he felt the pain, and felt the pain before he noticed he'd been blown backward, away from the girl. But the second he'd seen the eyes, his feeling about the battle had suddenly gotten worse. Where the girl had gotten the ability to shoot chakra from her fingertips, Juugo didn't pretend to understand.

He focused his chakra as he hit the water, and went skimming over the surface, finally sliding to a stop some feet away. He stood up as the strange orange girl flew to a stop some twenty feet away from him.

For a while they just stood there, Juugo standing still on the water, the orange girl floating just above it, hands glowing.

"Forgive me." The girl spoke at last. "I do not wish to give you pain, but I cannot allow you to harm my friends."

Juugo closed his eyes as he felt the old familiar pang.  Allowing himself one last feeling of regret, he triggered the transformation. "Neither…" he said as his dark curse seal engulfed him, "…can I."

"So your power is some kind of an intangible mystic force that will die along with you and depends on your enthusiasm or 'willingness' for a certain task. It's not something you completely understand, but you say your ability to summon it depends largely on your own health and well-being in your 'un-powered' state. Also you say you don't know how I can replicate or control this power."

"Like I said, I don't completely understand it myself." Naruto tried a grin. This was significantly harder than he had thought. The man asked a LOT of questions, and not all of them were the kind Naruto understood. "But I'm pretty sure you can't find it by cutting into me or drawing insane amounts of blood or anything like that."

"Oh? And how did you discover that?"

"Uh…" Naruto thought. "I've had a lot of swords cut into me."

"I thought you said that that sort of thing affected your ability to summon it."

"Oh it does! It does! But… uh…" Naruto tried for some more fast thinking. "In fact, that's why it's so difficult for me to summon it currently! I've been hurt so many times while I'm like this," he gestured at the cuffs, "that it's gotten really really hard for me to call on it. I need like a fifteen-minute wait before I can summon it these days."

"I see." The man nodded. "Now… as to your friends… do they have comparable powers?"

Naruto thought this through carefully. There were many reasons why a man like this might want a jinchuuriki, none of them very nice or pleasant. But on the other hand, this man had said earlier that the only reason he had kept Naruto and his friends alive was because of his power. Hence, if he knew the others weren't jinchuurikis, he might just kill them.

"I don't know about comparable." He said, very carefully. "Different, certainly. They're all very strong, in their own way. But I don't know how their powers work. You'd have to ask them."

"I see. Thank you very much." The man gestured, and the glass pane suddenly shifted to opaque white.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief, but did not dare to do much more. The man might still be watching, after all. Hopefully that information would keep him busy for a while, but Naruto couldn't be sure. And what if one of his friends unwittingly gave the whole thing away? Trapped like this, none of them would be able to fight back, they could only lie still.

Lie still…

A slow grin spread across Naruto's face, and he closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind to sense the natural chakra surrounding him…

The fight between them was silent, efficient, and utterly ruthless. Blazing sword clashed against cold white staff, kunai flew past batarangs, and feet shot back and forth in a frenzied dance of death.

Robin was utterly in his element.  Rarely did he get to experience such a match-up of pure martial ability.  No meta powers, no robotic suits, just speed, skill, and strength. Oh, the man had a few extra powers—breathing fire and some sort of lightning fist that Robin’d easily avoided—but for the most part the red-eyed man had relied lightning-fast reflexes and some very unique moves.   Exactly the sort of opponent Robin loved to fight.  And his silence suited Robin just fine—normally enemies wasted all sorts of time trying to taunt him into making mistakes.

At the same time, though, it disturbed him. Taunting indicated arrogance, which could often be exploited into underestimation. This man was taking him seriously, and as gratifying as that was, it removed a valuable weapon from Robin’s arsenal.  Which, when their talents matched so exactly, could make all the difference.

Robin flipped out of the way of the swiping blade and tossed smoke pellets at the teen, who was forced to deflect them with his sword. Using this momentary distraction, Robin dashed forward, shifting his bo staff into a fighting position. Quicker than he would have thought possible, though, the other's sword whipped back up to meet him. The two met, rebounded, attacked, and blocked in rapid succession, a flurry of attacks that few could follow.

One other thing that vaguely worried Robin—and irritated him somewhat—was that he felt this guy wasn’t fighting at his full potential.  Some very un-Cyborg-like wounds were in evidence, and Robin’d noticed some bad burn marks and blood stains on the man’s clothing.  He seemed a little winded, too, if that was possible for someone so fast.  Yet he kept up with Robin exactly.  And if this guy HAD beaten Cyborg, he probably had some other tricks that he hadn't used yet.

Ducking under the man's sword, Robin kicked at the man's legs, only for them to leap out of range. He glanced up to see the man's fingers moving rapidly, and rolled left just in time to avoid a flurry of fireballs that came spurting from the teens mouth. Leaping out of the last roll, he threw a series of pellets at the man.

As expected, the teenager moved to deflect them with his sword. And, as expected, when he tried to deflect the explosive pellets, they burst apart and sent him flying back towards the wall. Robin grinned but knew he could waste no time. Dashing forward, he raised his staff in what he intended to be a crushing blow.

The teen's head popped out of the rubble and glared directly at him. For a second his eyes flashed and something in them seemed to shift.

Robin hadn't lived as long as he had as a crimefighter without learning one important fact: When the villain's eyes did something funny like that, you got the heck out of the way. So, without breaking stride, he pushed off on his foremost foot and leapt into the air.

Exactly one second later, he was heartily grateful for that, as the entire back of the Tower burst into flames—black flames, he couldn't help noticing. Robin didn't pretend to understand how THAT had happened, but there it was. And fast as he was, he couldn't pretend to be faster than eyesight. His entire leg was burning.

Clenching his teeth tight against the pain, Robin tumbled to the ground, ripping off his boot. It didn't solve the whole problem, but his foot at least was whole again. His leg though... He grabbed a extinguisher pellet and smashed it into his leg, only to stare in disbelief as the flames burned right through it.

This isn't working. Need to come up with something new. Perhaps…

A shrill scream broke his thoughts, and he whipped around to gaze out at the lake. The grey-skinned monster standing on the water was wholly unfamiliar, but there was no mistaking the broken orange body in his arms.

"Star!" He cried, struggling forward. In that same instant, he heard the step of someone behind him and realized he was done for.

Crushing blackness struck the back of his head and swallowed him up.

"Japanese, you say?" Mr. Terrific eyed Batman curiously.

"A variation of it perhaps, but close enough." Batman nodded irritably. "What's the problem?"

"Well… none of them look exactly Asian… Granted, they're from another dimension, but it seems that if the language was the same, the characteristics would be roughly similar also."

Flash spoke up. "Maybe it's an alternate universe where Japan rules the world?"

"Possible." The scientist mused.

"Bats, do you ever even CONSIDER the diplomatic approach?" Superman rubbed his eyes. "You meet these kids, fresh from another dimension, and the first thing you do is attack them?"

Glaring, Batman responded, "THEY'RE the intruders here. Not us. I don't need to justify being in my own dimension, but anybody who's crossed over from one to the other had better be able to prove their intentions are peaceful." He gestured at the teenager he'd brought in. "By the time I got there, they were up, ready, and prepared to attack. I wasn't about to let them get loose."

"They did anyway. Anyway, it's possible they came here by accident, right?"

Mr. Terrific shrugged. "That sort of stuff is speculative until they wake up and we can question them more directly." Mr. Terrific, in addition to being J'onn's replacement as League Coordinator, was widely regarded as the third-smartest man alive. The League had no one better suited to investigate the scientific aspect of their visitors. "J'onn said he didn't find any memory of it in their mind, but that could easily be due to the effect of the dimensional warp. It's hard to know for sure, unless you want him to go digging around for more specific information."

"Best to wait on that until we know more about their physiology." Superman shook his head decisively. "We're not sure what we're dealing with here, we should handle them as carefully as possible." He threw a glance over at the Martian. "J'onn only did that to help the medics."

Arrow snorted but the others ignored him. "What did you learn from your analysis?" Batman asked.

"Well... anatomically, they're essentially human, though the third boy's eyes have some abnormalities I'd like to examine further, and the second boy—Shino—has several odd… compartments in his body where he kept the bugs." Mr. Terrific paused a moment. "Based on my and J'onn's info, I would guess that he has a symbiotic relationship with the insects. Separating them could be dangerous for the boy."

"Letting him keep them might be dangerous for us." Hawkgirl pointed out.

"Leave them in." Superman's voice cut off any further argument. "We can't risk a death on our hands, not until we know more. Put him in a space suit or something if you’re really worried."

Mr. Terrific nodded agreement and continued. "As I said, they're mostly human. In fact, several of the cellular anomalies we observed in the… arm… could not be found in their cells."

"Like the mouth in the hand?"

"That was one of them, yes." Replied the man evenly, ignoring Flash's grin. "There were several others, but I won't go into them now. What's important is the one similarity. I have a theory about what those nano-mitochondriac structures are for."

Batman nodded, apparently satisfied, but the rest of the leaguers looked blank. "Huh?" said Flash.

"When we were examining the arm, there were some elements in the cells that we didn't understand," explained the scientist. "I found some similar elements in the cells we took from the patients…" Green Arrow snorted again "…and saw what they do."

"And?"

"Well... I still can't quite tell... but they're giving off a faint radioactive signature."

"What?"

"Faint, mind you. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems their body is generating some kind of energy-not necessarily atomic, but related. If I'm right, it might explain the large amount ATP energy present in their cells." He frowned. "And there's something else in there too. Perhaps some kind of psychic energy-but you say you didn't sense anything like that, J'onn."

"I wasn't particularly looking for it." The martian shrugged.

Batman interrupted. "Can you suppress it?"

Mr. Terrific frowned. "That seems dangerous. Given its apparent ties to the body's energy system, I'm not sure I could suppress the one without damaging the other. I'm not sure that that's a risk we want to take."

"Listen to the man." Green Arrow nodded. "These are kids, for crying out loud. Let's try not to kill them while we're busy keeping them imprisoned."

"I fought these 'kids.' You didn't." Batman gritted his teeth. "Don't try and tell me they're harmless."

J'onn cleared his throat, breaking the tension. "There is one other matter of interest." He stated. "My examination of Batman's prisoner revealed that he was another participant in the battle I witnessed in the second boy's mind."

All eyes were instantly on the Martian. "He's the fugitive?"

"No. He was another member of the team pursuing the fugitive—a sizeable team, from what I could gather."

"How sizeable?" Superman furrowed his brow in thought.

J'onn winced. "The boy had a curiously wide range of vision. I can't be positive, but it seems there was a team of thirteen."

"THIRTEEN?"

"The boy had some kind of mental barrier." J'onn reminded them. "I could be wrong. But my best guess runs at twelve children and one adult. What their abilities were, I cannot say, but I think it safe to say they're on a par with our prisoners here."

"And this fugitive character brought them all down." Hawkgirl shook her head. "If he IS here, this could be a problem."

"Indeed." J'onn nodded. "Because if what I saw is accurate, the fugitive had a team of his own with him. At least three others."

There was a moment of silence as the Leaguers digested this information. Then Batman turned to Mr. Terrific. "You're sure you had people check all the rift sites?"

"I'm sure," came the response. "The second your call came in, we teleported league members to each location. We sent Green Lantern to Jump City, told Superman about Metropolis, called in Hawkgirl for the spot in the Rockies, and teleported Green Arrow to Hub City. We didn't send anyone to Gotham, but…" he gestured at the patients. "It looks like you took care of that pretty well."

Batman frowned. "Why'd you send Green Arrow to Hub City?"

"Hey!" The archer glared at Batman.

"No, no." Batman shook his head impatiently. "I mean, isn't that Question's city? Why didn't you call him in on it?"

There were a few glances exchanged around the room. "Question wasn't available."

"He must be off on one of his conspiracy trails." Hawkgirl snorted. "Wouldn't want us 'tracing' him, I suppose. I hate to think of what he's doing right now."

"Dude, you're some kinda crazy!" Kiba screamed at the odd faceless man.

"Tell me what you know!" insisted his captor, shining the blinding light at the chunin's face. "You can't hide the truth from me! What is NASA doing with those shoelaces? And why are the Girl Scouts suddenly adding 'new organic ingredients' to their cookies? What do they have planned?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, you psycho!"

The man leaned back and stroked his chin. "You are stubborn. The Illuminati has trained you well."

Kiba sighed and shook his head in frustration. Sure, the man spoke Japanese, but even so he made no sense!

The sheer ridiculousness of the situation had a certain humor to it. In fact, if he wasn't chained to a chair in the middle of a squalid apartment somewhere in this bizarre city, the whole thing would be really pretty freaking funny. And, of course, if he didn't happen to be in the same room with psycho who asked crazy questions. Granted, the man hadn't pulled any serious tricks yet—in the interrogation business the guy seemed to be something of an amateur—so things could be worse. Mostly all he'd done was shine a light in his face and make vague threats.

The man was back. "Tell me, what do you know about paper clips? Who is the true 'Knight Rider?' The broccoli farmers in the South… what are they planning? Your masters can't protect you here! Tell me who you are, where you come from, what you do!"

"I come from Konoha, my name is Kiba, I'm a chunin-level ninja who rides a giant dog, and you're a psycho!"

The man snorted and drew back. "Too easy! Think you can put me off with lies like that? You don't look like any ordinary ninja to me. That story of yours is good, but far too simple. There's more you're hiding, I'm sure, and I won't rest until I get it!"

"Dude…" Kiba groaned, fighting back a headache. He had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

"In any case," Batman concluded, "Question was the one who discovered this dimensional abnormality, so he should be apprised of the facts. He may actually know something useful."

Hawkgirl shook her head. "I doubt it."

"I do too, but Batman's right." Superman said, standing to his feet. "Question's better at drawing connections between things than anyone. And if there's a possibility that this fugitive is running loose in Hub City, we ought to pull out all the stops. As soon as you can, get in touch with him."

"We should focus on the other areas too." Hawkgirl nodded. "I might have missed something in the Rockies… We could get some other fliers to look it over."

"Since we know there are three in Gotham already, we could maybe send…"

Superman's voice trailed off at Batman's glare. "My city."

"Fine." Superman sighed. "We'll leave that to you and your family. That means we contact Question in Hub City, send others over the Rocky Mountains, maybe send a few more parties around Metropolis, and…" He frowned a moment. "Do we have any allies in Jump City?"

"You kidding?" Flash frowned. "How could you forget the Titans? Just drop them a message and they'll be all over it."

Juugo laid the orange girl down to the floor. "That's the last of them, Sasuke-sama."

"Good." Sasuke nodded.

"I got dibs on the red and green one." snarled Suigetsu. "Little bastard hit me from the rear with some kinda ice attack… I swear, give me five seconds with him and he'll…"

"You're not doing anything to any of them right now. We need information about this world and these captives are our most ready source." Sasuke shifted around to glare at Suigetsu. "Though in the future, you will ensure that they do not take you so easily. If we imprison them properly, we should have no difficulty keeping track of them."

Juugo breathed a sigh of relief while Suigetsu seethed.

"Now." Sasuke turned back to face the window. "We will secure this building and begin preparations. I must learn how to master the jutsu my sensei employed, but we must also make this building defensible, in case any of the others come after us."

Suigetsu quirked an eyebrow. "Others?"

"The Leaf nins."

"You think they're here too?" Juugo asked.

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged. "It's very possible. As I said, I'm not certain how the jutsu works, but since Kakashi sent the Hyuuga with us, I'd guess he might have trouble controlling it."

"It might have been an accident. She was right by us in the forest."

"So was Naruto." The others fell silent at that remark. "We must be as careful as we can not to attract attention. It seems the inhabitants of this world are more dangerous than I had assumed. If any more of them discover us we may need to relocate."

"Drat." The reporter muttered as she pulled her car to a stop. "Get out of bed at this late hour, drive all the way down here, and it's already over. Can't those Titans choose to have their battles in the daytime? Or at least make them last longer?" She sighed. "Suppose I might as well get up and take a look around."

She popped open the door and stepped out, high heels clicking against the pavement. Grunting, she hefted a camera and began clicking. "Don't suppose I'll even get a statement from them saying what the heck happened." She muttered. "What on earth was White thinking, sending me out to a dump like this when I could be…"

Something in the corner of her viewfinder caught her eye. "What the…" She put down the camera and hurried forward toward a limp form on the end of the dock. "Oh my word."

Quickly she whipped out a cell phone and began dialing. "Hello? Yes, this is Lois Lane, I've found a girl down by the docks. She seems to be badly injured."

Chapter Text

After lying still for nearly half-an-hour in a fruitless attempt to commune with nature, Naruto concluded that something was wrong. 

Gathering natural energy was surprisingly difficult.  First of all, there seemed to be nothing around them for miles except metal and plastic (which did him no good at all) and then dirt (which was better but still difficult) and then finally wind (which was the easiest one for him to access.)  Of course, there was the air in the hallways, but even that had a slightly… unnatural feel to it.

Ordinarily, he should have been able to pull even on these resources, but the natural energy here seemed so weak.  Practice had brought Naruto to the point where he could activate Sage Mode relatively easily and manage to maintain it for some time.  But the natural energy here felt so faint and elusive, it was difficult enough to sense, let alone manipulate.  It was as if chakra had suddenly dried up everywhere.

Not that seemed too unusual, in wherever-this-was.  He could sense thousands of things moving in the base, but none of them had any kind of chakra signature.  In the entire area, he could only feel three people with any significant chakra.

It bothered him that there were only three.  It bothered him even more that he really didn’t know who the last one was.  Shikamaru’s dark chakra was easy to identify, and Tenten’s slightly undeveloped coils stood out fairly well also, but the last… seemed so unfamiliar.  It had plenty of chakra, but it behaved in a strange manner and seemed almost diseased.

Naruto tallied up what he knew, and he didn’t like it.  One, they were in a land with little chakra.  That meant that Sage Mode would be that much more difficult to attain.  Two, several of his friends were being captive.  That meant that he had completely lost the others.  Third, a strange nin was also being kept here, and apparently had had something happen to their chakra.  THAT might mean that these people did chakra experiments.

In fact, the only bright spot that he could find came from the guards’ apparent lack of chakra.  If they only had mercenaries to contend with, escape should be significantly easier. 

At least, if he could manage to get free in the first place.  Gritting his teeth, Naruto closed his eyes and reached deeper, deeper into the flow of energy, trying to expand his range.

 There was no point in getting angry, Cyborg reminded himself.  No point whatsoever.  With his power cells nearly dead, the last thing he needed now was to waste whatever remained of them by some stupid attack on the door in front of him.  The best thing he could do now was sit still and wait for an opportunity.

                Except that was boring as shit.  And even if there wasn’t any point to getting angry, there wasn’t much point to just sitting there either.

                So he was doing the only thing he could do.  Thinking and cataloguing.

                They locked us in these rooms.  Not the cells downstairs, just some spare rooms that they found.  And they didn’t lock it, they barricaded it up.  That means these guys have no idea of how to work things.  Fits with the swords they’re carrying. 

                So a bunch of Japanese teenagers, who know nothing about technology, just locked us in a bunch of spare rooms.  Something else occurred to Cyborg.  They can’t be planning to visit us very often, if they went to the trouble of barricading everything up.  But then why let us live in the first place?  Do they need us for something?  Is that why they attacked?  And where did they come from?  They don’t know how to use the technology… maybe they’re time travelers?  But what time on earth would people be able to do stuff like what they do?

                He shook his head.  Too many questions.  Focus on what answers you have.

                The guy with the big-ass sword is a water elemental.  Not too bad, if we weren’t absolutely SURROUNDED BY THE STUFF.   Water shorts out my system like nothin’ else, too. 

                Big kid seems like a shapeshifter but… there’s more to it than that.  Not just like Beast Boy, where he transforms into some strong monster or something.  This guy just… adds muscles wherever he wants them.  And he can turn his body into lasers or jetpacks or jet-powered fists.  Cyborg frowned.  He’s was too flexible, too unpredictable.  And, I’ll bet, too unstable also. 

                But the last one, the one with the red eyes…

                Let’s see… fights with a sword and with just as much kung-fu as Robin, has lightning-fast reflexes, hypnotizes, spews fireballs, generates electricity, and can somehow make things go boom.  Black flames boom.

                Suppressing a sigh, Cyborg leaned back.  This ain’t going to be easy.

                “Found her by the docks, you say?”

                Lois rolled her eyes.  It irked her to be the one answering questions, and it irked her to still be at the docks hours after calling the ambulance.  For crying out loud, it was nearly morning already.  “Yes officer.  By the docks.  Went out to investigate the battle at Titan’s Tower, found her just sitting there by the water.  I’m pretty sure she got hurt in the fight.  Is there anything else?”

                “I suppose not.”  The policeman sighed as he folded up his notebook.  “You’re probably right, she mighta just got hit by a stray blast, but we’ll need to hold an investigation anyway.  Anyplace we can contact you if we need a statement?”

                “Lois Lane, Daily Planet, Metropolis.”

                THAT got the officer’s attention.  “You’re that Lois Lane?  From Metropolis?  Superman’s girl?”

                “Uh-huh.”  Lois smirked.  Having a superhero boyfriend had some unexpected perks.

                The officer hastily tipped his cap.  “Thank you, ma’am.  That’ll be all, I guess, if we need anything more we’ll let you know.”  And quickly stepping into his car, he drove off.  Lois shook her head.  He’d probably be telling his buddies all day how he just met the Lois Lane, Superman’s girl.  Well, let him.  It wouldn’t do her any harm, and it had given her the chance she wanted—the chance to run over to the ambulance and ask the paramedics a few questions. 

                As she came up, she heard a few words: “Multiple lacerations… blood loss extensive… third degree burns… need to stabilize…”

                “Excuse me?”  She interrupted, breaking into their conversation.  “Lois Lane, Daily Planet reporter.  I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?”

                “Lois Lane?  The Lois Lane?”

                Having a superhero boyfriend could also occasionally be annoying.  Lois sighed again and was about to answer when another voice broke in.  “Are you the woman who found this girl?”

                Lois found herself staring at a rather heavyset, disgruntled-looking paramedic.  “Er… yes.”  She answered.  “I’m a reporter for…”

                “Would you mind coming with us to the hospital?” asked the woman, apparently unimpressed by Lois’ credentials.  “This girl is badly hurt, and the doctors may want to ask you a few questions.”

                Every so often, Lois reflected, things worked out perfectly.  She’d been prepared to virtually follow the ambulance and take the emergency room by storm, if for no other reason than to be there when this mystery patient woke up.  Even if the girl knew nothing about the Titans fight, she could at least make for a halfway-decent human interest story.  And if she was going to be out this late, Lois wanted at least ONE story to show for it.

                Being the reporter that she was, Lois did not miss a beat.  “Oh, I guess so.”  She pulled out her notepad.   “What kind of injuries does she have?”

“You’re sure it’s her?”

                “She’s kinda hard to miss, Bruce.”  The voice on the intercom had a tiny edge to it.  “Are you sure you wanna go in there to deal with her?”

                “I’m sure.”  Batman’s eyes narrowed.  “This is my city.  She needs to learn what that means.”

                Banking the Batwing in a wide turn, the Dark Knight studied the city as it swept under him, eyes raking back and forth across the buildings in search of the woman.  Finally he caught a flash of color atop the Gotham clock tower and shot the Batwing toward that.  She did not turn as he leapt from the craft to the roof, but simply remained staring over the city, her unmistakable hair waving in the breeze.

                “Princess.”  He growled.

                “Batman.”  She acknowledged without turning.  “I was wondering when you would get here.”

                “What’s this about?  I told Clark, no Leaguers.”

                “He told me.”  She turned to face him, and her steely blue eyes locked onto his.  “I decided to come anyway.  These intruders are dangerous, after all.”

                “Nothing I can’t handle.  This is my city, Diana.  I handle what goes on here.  No one else.”

                She sighed.  “Must you be so selfish, Bruce?”

                “Gotham belongs to me.”  Batman’s eyes narrowed.  “I don’t need interlopers jumping in and confusing the situation by offering whatever kind of ‘help’ they think the city needs.  If people are to fight in my city…”

                “…they must follow your rules.  I understand that, Bruce.”  Nodding, the Amazon took a step forward.  “But this ‘dimensional rupture’ thing isn’t just about Gotham, it’s about the world.  You said so yourself.”

                Batman glared at her but said nothing.

                She sighed.  “Look… I am a warrior.  I understand how rules work.  If I agree to work according to your… methods, will you let me help?  The sooner this matter is ended, the better.”

                There was a short moment of silence.  Finally Bruce heaved a grunting sigh.  “Fine.” 

                It was all Wonder Woman could do not to give a triumphant smirk.

                Juugo glanced up curiously as the door crashed open.  “What’re you down here for?”

                “Boss-man wants to see the red guy.”  Suigetsu growled.  “Needs to ask him some questions, I guess.  Sent me down to get him.”

                “Oh.  Okay.”  Heaving himself upwards, Juugo began to clear away the massive barricade blocking the door to the boy’s prison cell.  Suigetsu, apparently irritated at the delay, tapped the edge of his massive blade and fidgeted endlessly.

                “I just hope I get in on the fun.”  He suddenly muttered.

                Juugo stopped.  “Hm?”

                “The interrogation.  Sasuke better let me in on it.”  Suigetsu ran his tongue delicately over his serrated teeth.  “I’ve got a score to settle with that runt.”

                “Oh?  Why’s that?”

                “He knocked me out.  Not a fair fight really, he and that girl ganged up and used some kind of weird freezing jutsu on me.”

                Momentarily, Juugo wondered when Suigetsu had started caring about ‘fair’ fights, but decided to keep his mouth shut.

                “Plus, I wasn’t at my full strength, not after that fight we’d just had.  And the water was acting funny.”

                That was too strange to just let go.  “What?”

                “The water.  It was weird.”  Seeing the expression on Juugo’s face, Suigetsu sighed.  “I mean it wasn’t as easy to manipulate.  All sluggish and clumsy and… I couldn’t move half as fast or even form a decent suiton blade.”

                “Hm.”  Juugo frowned.  “Why would that be?”

                “I dunno.   I told Sasuke about it, ‘cause he was mad at me for losing, and he actually said he noticed something similar.  Apparently his sharingan wasn’t predicting movements so clearly either.”  Leaning forward, Suigetsu added, “He has a theory about it, but he won’t tell me what it is.”

                Juugo considered it a moment, then shrugged and resumed his work.  It was no business of his what Sasuke did or did not tell his subordinates.

                Sai’s first sensation was that of a gentle nudging at the back of his brain—a brief interruption in his dreamless sleep, nothing more.  But before he slipped back into oblivion, a subconscious part of his mind recognized the nudge as something he had experienced in interrogation training.

                The second sensation he felt was of his soft, warm surroundings.  That might not have been so notable, if Sai’s bed were NOT generally so warm or soft, and if his last memory had not been in a very un-soft, un-warm place.  His subconscious became slightly more agitated.

                Gradually he became aware of sounds around him.  A steady beeping, some kind of whirring noise, the occasional clink of metal.  A rustling noise alerted him to the movement of others in the room, and he could hear them speaking, too.  The sounds were unintelligible, but Sai was relatively certain they were using some kind of code.

                A hospital.  He noted.  A foreign hospital.  A foreign hospital where he was being interrogated, as his subconscious reminded him.  The position was extremely compromising, to say the least, and definitely not ideal.  Sai momentarily thought back to identify the nudging he’d recognized earlier… Fu, one of his teachers had used it on him.  A Yamanaka technique.  How had a foreign village gained access to it?

                The whole time, Sai kept his eyes closed and his breathing controlled.  His heart had given just the tiniest jump when he’d awoken, but outside of that, he remained in a semblance of unconsciousness.  Best not to let his interrogators know he had awoken.

                Just to check, he carefully tested the movement of his hands, uttering a soft groan as he did so to feign a troubled sleep.  Just as he thought, both arms were restrained.  He didn’t bother to check his legs.

                The voices had stopped momentarily when he’d groaned, and there’d been some more rustling, but after a while the voices resumed and Sai was free to continue his musings.  Who would kidnap and imprison Konoha nins?  The ninja villages were allied now, no nation would risk an international incident by such an action.  Perhaps Sound?  But Sound was far too weak to take such an action, and they had been nowhere near Sound’s land.  Akatatsuki, then?  But Akatatsuki did not take prisoners.  The Yamanaka technique.  Perhaps it was a rival faction within Konoha, speaking in code to confuse him…

                I know you’re awake.

                The voice startled Sai, and his eyes flew open.  Three men in white costumes on the other side of the room, looked up at him and instantly hurried over, checking dials and babbling in their strange code.  But Sai paid them no heed.  He was looking for the voice.

                They’re asking you to open your mouth, said the voice, with just a touch of amusement.  They want to take your temperature.

                Sai had located the voice now.  It was in his head.  Somehow, that did not make him feel any better about it, but nonetheless he obediently opened his mouth and allowed the strange men to look him over.  Concentrating, he tried to form the mental question Who are you?

                It seemed to work, for he got an answer.  Ah.  My apologies.  I ought to introduce myself.

                Sai had seen a lot of strange things in his time in ROOT, but watching a green man float through a wall and down to the floor had not been one of them.    A long blue cape fluttered behind the man, and curiously deep-sunken orange eyes burned into Sai. 

The three white-clad men gave a little jump at the man’s entrance, but Sai merely blinked.  Promptly deciding he was in a genjutsu, he began to focus on stopping his flow of chakra.

                The man regarded him curiously a moment.  You are attempting to do something.  What is it?

                Sai paid no attention.

                Oh, I see.  You believe yourself to be in an illusion. The man gave an irritable wave at the medics and they nearly tumbled over themselves in their hurry to leave.  Then he turned his disturbing gaze back onto Sai.  I suppose I have no way to convince you that you are NOT in an illusion.  He said.  You will merely have to take my word for it, Sai.

                That made the former ROOT nin stop.  While his pseudonym Sai was fairly well known in Konoha, he had always prided himself on his relative anonymity in other countries.  A ninja was supposed to remain hidden and unseen, the less who knew his name, even his false name, the better.  So how had this stranger learned it?  Further support for the rival faction theory.

                I’m talking to you in your head, and you’re wondering how I know your name?  The voice once again seemed amused, though the face in front of him gave no hint of it.  I learned your name from your friends.  He motioned to the side.

                Sai’s eyes flickered over to see Ino, Neji, and a Shino-shaped lump lying on beds beside him.  He returned his gaze to the green man.

                They are well.  The voice assured him.  They are merely resting.  The four of you were all badly injured when you arrived, it took a great deal of time for our medics to heal you.  The eyes studied him.  You don’t believe me, I see; but I assure you it is the truth.

                It disturbed Sai that this man could tell what he was thinking so easily.  It made hiding his answers much more difficult.  He gestured to the cuffs binding him to the bed.

                The man looked uncomfortable.  Ah.  Those.  Well, you will forgive us, but we knew—know—nothing about you or your friends, and we needed to be sure if you were dangerous or not.

                Sai frowned.  If a rival faction, they should know all about him, and if a foreign power… surely they could see by the headbands that they were Konoha nins, and…

                Ah yes.  Konoha.  What—or where—is this ‘Konoha?’

                Stiffening, Sai decided simply to stop thinking.  Laying back, he closed his eyes and began a meditation technique, blocking out all thoughts.

                Wait!  Don’t…

                Sai paid the man no heed, delving deeper into meditation.  He sensed the nudging again, felt it diminish, and then gradually disappear.  Internally, he nodded in satisfaction.  He’d wait for another few moments, check to see if the man was gone, and then begin to work on the problem of where they were and what to do about it.

                Sighing, Shikamaru stared up at the ceiling.  While he didn’t particularly MIND being forced to do nothing at all for hours at a time, the lack of clouds on the ceiling was somewhat troublesome.    He could handle being chained to the bed, but if they were going to force him to look at the ceiling, couldn’t they make it a little less… white?

More troublesome yet, there wasn’t anything else in the room for him to watch, other than the guards, and the only interesting parts of them were the uniforms.  Shikamaru felt certain they’d dressed up the two most boring men in the facility and instructed them to stand in the most uninformative way possible, while making no responses whatsoever.  To anything. 

But most troublesome of all, Shikamaru knew he was staring an enormous puzzle in the face—namely, where they were—and had absolutely NOTHING to work with.  In fact, after twelve hours of staring at said cloud-less ceiling and glancing around said empty room, Shikamaru was starting to feel a trifle bored.

                He’d tried to stave it off.  He’d thought through nearly thirty different possible ways for them to end up in a room like this.  They were all either too inconclusive or too ridiculous.  Then he’d sent approximately forty different scenarios through his head, this time about what could happen in a room like this.  They had all been utterly too depressing.

                He’d figured the approximate location of the light sources.  He’d examined as much of the guards as he could see.  He’d examined the manacles holding him to the bed and concluded they were not made of any metal he’d seen before.  He’d counted the tiles on the ceiling.  (There were four-hundred and seventy-nine.)   He’d done everything he could think of, and now boredom was starting to set in.

                So, when a portion of the wall suddenly became transparent and a brilliantly bald man turned a rather predatory smile on him, it was almost more of a relief than a shock.

                “Good morning,” said the man.  “Sleep well?”

                Shikamaru shrugged.

                The man shoved his hands in his pockets and regarded him for a moment.  “I suppose you’re wondering where you are.  Your friend certainly didn’t seem to know, and he was the only conscious one of you when you arrived, so I imagine you don’t know either.”

                Another shrug.  Half of surviving interrogation was appearing compliant without actually giving your opponent anything to use.  Shikamaru had betrayed nothing (at least, he hoped not), but the man had already given him several important facts.  One, another one of his friends was being held here.  Two, the friend was male.  Three, apparently they were really, really lost.

                “Hm.”  The man did not appear pleased with Shikamaru’s apparent unconcern.  “In any case, you are in no position to ask.  You were, after all, trespassing on my territory, something I do not appreciate at the best of times.  I don’t suppose you’d care to explain how that came about?”

                Shikamaru didn’t even have to fake his shrug this time.  He didn’t even know where they were, how would he know how they got there?

                Annoyance becoming more visible, the man folded his arms and glared down at him.  “I’ll let that pass this once.  But I assure you, if you continue to act this way, things will get rather unpleasant.  Do I make myself clear?”

                For a moment, Shikamaru was tempted to shrug simply to piss the bald guy off, but he decided against it.  There was simply no point to enraging their captor.  So he nodded.

                “Good.”  The man appeared mollified.  “Now, I have a series of questions for you.  Who are you, what power do you have, and where are you from?”

                Shikamaru blinked.  He’d expected the first two questions, but not the last.  How could the man not know?   Shikamaru’s hite-ate was clearly tied on his arm; people the world over knew the symbol of the Hidden Leaf.

                They must be really lost.

                In any case, if the man didn’t know what Konoha was, where was the harm? Shikamaru opened his mouth.  “Nara Shikamaru, of Konohagakure.  Fire Nation.”

                “Interesting,” said the man, but he was frowning.  “And what power do you have?  Anything similar to that red energy field your friend had?”

                Naruto must be the other captive, then.  That explained a lot.  Conceivably, if Naruto had gone Kyuubi, he could have run for a long time, even while carrying Shikamaru.  That would explain why they were so lost.

                Although… so lost the person wouldn’t understand what a chakra cloak was?  Or a bijuu?

                Distantly, Shikamaru noted a growing impatience on the man’s face.  Something had to be said.  Still trying to get a grip on his racing thoughts, he stalled for time.  “That depends.”  He said.  “What do you mean by ‘similar?’”

                “Similar in any way.  Your friend DID tell me you have a comparable power, but he was most inspecific as to how.  So it is your job to tell me how it compares.  How do you produce it?  Can it be replicated?”

                “Oh that.”  Shikamaru suppressed a snort.  His power?  Comparable to Naruto’s?  Naruto had obviously been in a tight spot when he thought that one up.  “Well, that’s not really something I enjoy sharing with others, you know.  What’s in it for me?”

                “I’ve already provided you with comfortable accommodations.” Shikamaru was about to take issue with the ‘comfortable’ aspect when the man continued.  “We could arrange to have them made significantly less comfortable if you prove uncooperative, but I’d prefer to avoid that.”

                Shikamaru had expected such a reply and had a ready answer.  “Yeah,” He agreed, weighing just the right amount of laziness before continuing: “But when you consider exactly how much power I have, that may not be such a good idea.”

                “Oh?”  The man lifted a skeptical eyebrow.  “Given that I was able to capture your friend at full strength, I think I would be able to deal with you.”

                “I really doubt my friend was at full power.  In any case, even if you know what he can do, you don’t know anything about my power.  How can you tell if you’d be able to match it?”

                A rather unnerving chuckle broke loose from the man.  “You’d be surprised how many ‘powerful people’ I’m able to handle, boy.”

                “Really.”  This was a dangerous game.  Time to offer a compromise.  “Well, I gotta say, I admire a man who takes risks,” he drawled, figuring a little flattery couldn’t hurt his position.  “I’ll tell you what.  I’m pretty sure I could break out of here, but it’d probably be more trouble than it’s worth.  So here’s the deal.  I’ll tell you what I know about my powers, and my buddy’s too.  But I want something in return.”

                The man snorted.  “As I pointed out before…”

                “Nothing big, mind you.”  Shikamaru interrupted.  “But if I’m gonna feed you information, I want a softer bed.  And some decent food.”

                The bald man paused and regarded him narrowly.  Then he laughed, loud and long.

                “You do have spunk, boy, I’ll give you that.”  He chuckled.  “I’ll see what I can do about that bed and food.  But first…” he gestured.  “Information.”

                “Sounds fair.”  Shikamaru prepared himself for the ultimate bluffing game.

                “How do you work this device?”

                It was a flat command, issued in a flat tone, and the teenager in front of Sasuke answered just as flatly.  “Figure it out yourself.”

                Sasuke grunted.  The line was not unexpected—indeed, he would have been surprised at anything less—but it was still annoying.  To be a proper master of the tower, Sasuke needed to know how to work the strange devices inside.  Some of them looked similar to Orochimaru’s equipment, but Sasuke’d never paid attention to them before.  He, Juugo, and Suigetsu had poked, prodded, opened, zapped, and stabbed the things, all with no result. 

And now, the one before him, the apparent leader, the one who had all the information they needed, obstinately refused to tell them anything.  The fact that such a leader was called something as ridiculous as “Robin” only intensified his annoyance.

                “That’s your line, is it?”  Suigetsu licked his lips and moved forward.  “Let’s see how you feel after…”

                “Leave off, Suigetsu.”  Sasuke stopped him with a word.  “It won’t work.  Not with this one.”

                “Yeah?”  Suigetsu didn’t move.  “What makes you so sure?”

                “I’ve looked into his eyes.  He’s not someone you’d be able to hurt.”  Meeting Robin’s steely gaze, Sasuke continued, “But I can.”

                Sasuke’s eyes flashed red.

                White.

It was blinding, all the light about her.  A dazzling whiteness that burst through her tightly-shut eyelids, and an all en-compassing whiteness that struck her from every side. The light nearly suffocated her with its presence, pressing down upon her like a heavy blanket.  It was strange, this light, almost like a thing alive.

                Suddenly she felt, rather than saw, two great eyes stare at her.  Speak.

The suffocating light shot into her, pushing itself through her every pore.  She felt as though she were being twisted, almost as if someone were pushing more life into her than her body could hold.  Her mouth burned.  Fire danced along her skin, and every nerve was alive…

Hinata shot upward in bed, gasping and clutching at her chest.  The tingles of the strange fire still shivered up and down her spine, and she had a faint sensation of unreality as she glanced about the room.

A hospital.  Why was she in a hospital… oh… oh.  The fight.  She remembered now.  Of course she was in a hospital.  Were the others here?  They must be, someone must have brought her here from the battle.  Had they won?  Or had they drawn back for her sake?  Had she failed them all again?  They weren’t supposed to… she remembered Shikamaru telling them to keep fighting regardless of who fell.  But maybe, she had… she had just…

Naruto-kun… had Naruto-kun found out?  Was he mad?  Or maybe… had he been the one who found her?  Perhaps even carried her back here?  Held her close and…

                Her stream of thoughts was interrupted by the creak of the door.  She glanced up, half-expecting to see Naruto.

But instead of the unmistakable blonde’s whisker-marked face, she found herself gazing at a placid-faced young lady with long dark hair.  The woman was clad in an elegantly simple coat and skirt, and was currently sizing Hinata up with a pair of clear, piercing eyes.

“You’re awake.”  She commented, in a lightly sardonic tone.  “That’s impressive, the doctor’s didn’t think you’d be out of it for a while.”

Hinata blinked at the woman.

“Suppose you’ve had some experience with injuries, in your line of work.  That was quite the set of scars you had, the doctors didn’t know what to make of them.”  The women pulled a chair up next to Hinata’s bed and looked at her curiously.  “Are you a new Titans member?”

Hinata’s confusion tormented her face.  “Um…” she whispered.  “I-I’m sorry, but… where am I?”

A wrinkle furrowed the lady’s brow.  “You’re in Jump City, kiddo.  Don’t you remember that?”

“N-no…”  Hinata shook her head slowly.  “Forgive me, but… what is Jump City?”

The wrinkle became more pronounced and the lady stood up.  “You don’t remember that either?”  She leaned forward and placed her hand on Hinata’s forehead.  “I wonder if…  What’s your name, kid?”

“Oh!  Forgive me.  My name is H-h-hyuuga Hinata.”  Hinata attempted to bow but found it difficult in the hospital bed.  “Pleased to meet you.”

“Well, she doesn’t seem to have amnesia, at least.”  The lady muttered, sitting back.  “I’m Lois Lane. Daily Planet.”  She added, as an afterthought.

Hinata attempted another bow.  “P-pleased to meet you, Lois-san.”

The woman looked bemused.  “Just Lois is fine.  Well then,” she said, picking up her pencil.  “We can talk about where you are later, maybe.  What about the fight?  Do you remember that?”

“Oh…  yes.”  Hinata nodded, shivering slightly.

“Great!”  The woman brightened, looking at her in an almost predatory fashion.  “Mind if I ask you a few questions about it?”

Confused, Hinata tried to puzzle things out.  Why was the woman asking?  Hadn’t Shikamaru or one of the others told her already?  Maybe… maybe had they all been killed, and she had been the only survivor…  But no, she was the weakest, if she was still alive the others must be. 

Had she been captured?  Was this woman questioning her?  She was obviously in a strange place.   But the lady was being too nice, and she wasn’t being held prisoner.   Plus, she was asking about the fight.  She hadn’t even asked about Konoha.  She couldn’t be interrogating Hinata.

Maybe… yes, she must be asking for a mission report!  They must be in one of the allied villages.  One of the other villages—this ‘Jump City’—must have found them and brought them to their hospital!  Obviously they would need to send a mission report to Konoha as soon as possible.

Nodding firmly, Hinata opened her mouth and began.  “Our mission was to locate and eliminate the Akatsuki member Uchiha Sasuke…”

Sakura groaned and blinked blearily as she sat up.    Perhaps Lee was right about the cardboard making things easier—it’d certainly made them cleaner—but at the moment it was hard to appreciate the difference.  Sleeping on sheet rock was not wholly unfamiliar to Sakura’s ninja career, but she still missed her bedroll.

                Sakura glanced around the room feeling something slightly… off.  Some small part of her subconscious nagged at her that there was something wrong with the light gleaming through the doorway past Chouji..

                Light.  Doorway.  Chouji.

                Groaning, Sakura staggered up to the Akimichi nin.  “I thought we were all going to take shifts.  Why didn’t you or Lee wake me for my turn?”

                “I never woke Lee.”  Chouji shrugged.  “Like I said last night, the two of you need rest a lot more than I do, and I was fine with staying up all night.”

                “The idea of shifts is that all members of the team rest adequately so they can all be at peak capacity in the morning.  You staying up all night kinda ruins the point.”  Sakura slumped to a seat next to him.

                “I’ve stayed up nights before.  And with all the eating I’ve been doing in that time, I’m about as close to peak capacity as I’m going to get.”  He glanced momentarily at the bag.  “Though this garbage doesn’t really seem to be doing it.” 

                He was right.  And Sakura, still sore from her sleep, felt almost inclined to be mad at him for being right, but sense and sheer gratitude won out in the end.  “I guess so.” 

There was a companionable silence for a few moments before she finally said, “Thanks Chouji.  For… keeping it together and everything.  I should be more on top of things than I am, it’s just… Neji being lost like that, it… it really…”

                “It’s a shock,” nodded the chubby teen.  “I get it.  I think we’re all a little blown over by it.”

                “You seem to be handling it all right.”  There was just a hint of accusation in Sakura’s voice.

                Chouji did not respond for a moment, he appeared to be thinking of something.  “It’s… different for me, I guess.  I mean, I don’t know Neji that well.  It’s not as bad.  At least…”  he added quickly, “…not anything like my dad, you understand.”

                Sakura didn’t.  “Your dad?”

                “Don’t you remember?”  Chouji glanced over at her.  “Oh… right.  You weren’t there.”  He heaved a breath.  Well… you remember, during the Pain invasion?  How… Kakashi-sama kinda died and then came back?”

                Sakura nodded slowly.  “I only heard about it afterwards, but… yeah.”

                “Yeah, well, my dad and I were there when it happened.”

                “Oh.”  Suddenly Sakura wished she were thirty thousand miles away.  “Is… that it then?  You’ve dealt with this kinda stuff before—people dying in battle—so it’s not so new to you?”

                “No… or well, yes, I guess, but not… not so much with Kakashi-sama.”  Chouji sighed.  “You see, he died helping me and my dad attack the one… gravity-Pain fighter.  He came up with the plan, even—Dad and I were supposed to charge at him from both sides as a distraction, and then Kakashi was going to pop up and put a chidori through him.  Almost worked, but another one of the Pains got in the way and blocked the blow long enough for the gravity one to send out a huge pulse.”

                Chouji heaved another big breath.  “So anyway… he knocked us all back, sent rubble just crashing down on top of us.  Kakashi-sama was trapped, I was badly knocked about, but Dad…” he swallowed.  “Dad…”

                Sakura stared at him.

                “I thought he was dead.”  Chouji finally managed.  “He’d shielded me from the majority of the blast, and he was just laying out there, all limp and senseless…  I had to drag him out myself, and I checked him over… I was sure he was dead.”

                Chouji looked down and swallowed a couple times before continuing.  “Kakashi-sama finally pulled me out of it…”

“He wasn’t dead?”

“Not yet…  He’d just been trapped.  He told me we needed to let Tsunade know about the gravity Pain’s weakness, and that I needed to go.  So I ran.  I didn’t think, I just ran.  One of the Pain bodies tried to stop me, but I think Kakashi-sama took care of that one before he died.  When I finally got to Tsunade, she was the one who finally told me that Dad… that Dad was okay.”  He shook his head.  “I just… broke down when I heard that… I thought he’d really…”  He swallowed and said nothing.

                For a moment neither one said anything, but simply sat there, staring out at the gradually lightening sky.  “I see.”  Sakura finally said.  “I guess… after something like that…”

                “After something like that,” Chouji shook his head, “Everything else is pretty much… nothing.”

                Sakura nodded.  “For what it’s worth,” she answered.  “I’m glad.  I don’t know where we’d be if you hadn’t kept things together last night.”

                “It’s okay.”  Chouji glanced over at her.  “Just don’t expect me to come up with anything.  So, what’re we gonna do today, fearless leader?”

                Sakura smiled in answer.  “First, we’d better wake up Lee.  Then, let’s get to work on figuring out where Neji and the others are.”

                Shino was aware of a vaguely uneasy feeling even before he fully awoke.  Doubtless, he considered, part of this was due to lingering emotional effects of his defeat at the Uchiha’s hands.  Perhaps also the emotions of his insect allies were transferring to him in some way, expressing their distress at the death of their compatriots.  In any case, he should do his best to locate and eliminate the source of this unease as expeditiously as possible. 

                In pursuit of this end, he opened his eyes, only to quickly snap them shut.  Someone had apparently removed his glasses, and the sudden onslaught of light had temporarily overloaded his sense.  Regrettable.  His sunglasses gave him a desirable edge in hiding his emotion, and he had noted more than once the detrimental psychological effect they had on his opponents.  Also, he would not be able to see well.

                If sight was (temporarily) denied him, he should resort to other methods.  Immediately he ordered his allies to examine the surroundings, but they nearly instantly returned with the distressing information that they were encased in an airtight suit of some kind.  The ease of breathing and overall coolness of the suit indicated that there was some kind of ventilation, but his allies could not discover it.  This, coupled with the fact that his hands were chained at the sides, indicated some kind of deliberate imprisonment.  He immediately set his bugs to eating away at the suit.

                By this time, Shino was able to open his eyes without pain and gazed through the clear panel of the suit to the room outside.  A cursory evaluation indicated that he was in a hospital of some kind—a logical position, given his last known condition.  However, a more detailed survey revealed several key features that made the likelihood of it being a Konoha hospital extremely low.

                Chief among those features were the three men currently clustered around his bed.  The one’s dark skin designated him as a member of the Lightning Country, the other looked more or less normal, but the third was... green.

                Shino had no experience with green ninjas, and rather unfortunately could not remember any aspect of his training that had covered them either.  Such a lack of information implied an unknown ability—possibly a hidden kekkai genkai of some kind. 

                “He’s awake!”  said the first man.  Something about his voice disconcerted Shino.    

The second man’s voice was equally disturbing.  “Heartbeat is normal, brain waves consistent...” there was a short pause, “…the bugs are… moving too…”

                “That’s… good.  Right?”

                “Yes, that is good,” said the green man.  “That is excellent.  Monitor their activity, however.  We do not yet know what they are capable of.”

                “Yes sir.”

                Suddenly Shino understood the source of his discomfiture.  The man should have replied ‘Hai.’  Instead he had said, ‘yes sir,’ an utterly meaningless combination of sounds that Shino had never heard before.

                So how had he understood it?   For that matter, how had he understood the rest of the unintelligible sounds they were saying?

                The green man spoke again.  “His condition is stable, you say?”

                “Yes sir.”

                ‘Very well.  Leave then.  I wish to speak with him alone.”

                The two others glanced at each other, then quickly gathered together a few items and retired.  Remaining behind, the green man spent a few moments collecting his thoughts, studying Shino intensely.  Shino, for his part, did his best to avoid the man’s gaze.  Certain genjutsus depended on eye contact.  Of course, the possibility existed that he was in a genjutsu already—that would explain the green man—but his insect allies gave him no indication of such a state.

                The man finally spoke.  “Your name is Aburame Shino, and you are from Konoha.”

                Shino merely inclined his head.  The man’s information implied a source, most likely a bingo book of some kind.  While Shino had not been aware of this, the knowledge that he had a Bingo Book profile was at once gratifying and disturbing.

                “I suppose I owe you some explanation for those,” said the man, indicating the cuffs which bound Shino to the bed.  “You will forgive us, but we have no way of knowing whether you are friends or enemies, and the fact that several of your friends attacked Batman makes your status somewhat… difficult to determine.”

                Shino consulted his memory for a nin named “Batman” but came up sorely lacking.  And while the man’s caution was understandable, his overall behavior seemed rather odd.  If the man knew they were from Konoha, how could he not know whether they were allies or enemies?  More to the point, why had he not dispatched a message to Konoha to demand a reason for their presence?

                “We are unsure of how to contact Konoha.”  The man interrupted his thoughts.  “And therefore are at a loss to explain your presence here.  I believe you were involved in a battle with a fugitive of some strength, correct?”

                Shino evaluated his options.  While he was clearly imprisoned by a presumably hostile village, the mission he and his friends had set out on was no secret.  And of the different intentions they could be suspected of, bounty hunting was definitely one of the more innocent.  So he chose to nod.

                “I see.”  The man nodded, apparently relieved at his cooperation.  “Who was this fugitive?  How many allies did he have?”

                This decision was easier to make, as all were internationally wanted criminals and had no allies outside of Akatsuki.  Shino opened his mouth and was surprised to find how easily the strange language flowed off his tongue.  “Uchiha Sasuke.  He was accompanied by his three subordinates.”

                 “And who is this Sasuke?” 

                Shino had not expected that question.  How could the man not know of the last Uchiha?  He stared at the man, who inclined his head in apology.  “I fear we do not know much of the doings of your world here.”

                The data did not make sense.  The fact that the man knew Aburame Shino, a chunin-level nin,  implied a strong familiarity with not only the ninja world, but with Konoha in particular.  How could this man know his name, but not the Uchiha’s?  One might assume him to be lying, except that such a lie was so unbelievable as to be patently absurd.

                Given, though, that the information regarding Uchiha was common knowledge, Shino saw no reason to withhold it.  “Uchiha Sasuke is an S-class missing nin of Konoha.”  He responded.  “He is one of the few remaining members of Akatsuki and was declared an international criminal following his attack on the Kage summit and subsequent murder of the Hokage pro tempore.”  For a moment he wondered where the word “pro tempore” had come from, but brushed that aside as another inexplicable oddity.  “Why were we pursuing him?  Because certain elements decided that if outsiders were to kill Sasuke, it would result in an undesirable cycle of hostile relations between villages.  Therefore prudence dictated that we handle the matter ourselves.”  The last bit was NOT public knowledge, but Shino felt it important to emphasize the conciliatory nature of their mission.

                “You… intended to kill the fugitive then.”  The man was staring at him in an odd manner.

                “If necessary, that was the optimal solution, yes.”  Shino nodded, somewhat puzzled at the man’s question.  “Why were we intending to eliminate him?  Capture was determined neither practicable nor important due to the great skill of the target and the kill-on-sight warrant issued on him.  If elimination proved impossible, secondary objectives were to maim or incapacitate the target, preferably through irreparable damage to his eyes.  The elimination of his subordinates was also desirable, though not necessary, to the fulfillment of the mission.  We…”

                He stopped.  The green man’s gaze had become truly disturbed, and his mouth was slightly open in what Shino could only judge to be surprise.   “I see.”  The man finally managed.  “Kindly excuse me while I relay this information to my comrades.”

She had been lying in the bed for about three hours now.  During that time, no one new had entered the room, no one had spoken to her, and no one had done anything of the remotest interest.  Fortunately, they had left her bed in the upright position, so she was able to survey her room and the two men standing by the door, but outside of that Tenten had nothing to do.

                Unlike Shikamaru, Tenten hated having nothing to do.  For as long as she could remember, she had never been content with sitting still.  She had always wanted to go higher, farther, larger than anyone else ever had.  It’d stood her in good stead as a kunoichi.  Among other things, working on a team with a revenge-driven genius and an enthusiasm-driven psycho nearly demanded it.  But more than that, she’d always admired her teammates (and her sensei, despite everything) for the things they shared—an unflinching quest for self-improvement. 

That’s why she had selected the Sannin Tsunade as her model.  As the ultimate kunoichi in the ninja world, there was no one better for Tenten to aspire towards.  Gai and Lee might choose to motivate themselves by choosing formidable rivals, Tenten motivated herself by choosing a formidable model. 

Would Lady Tsunade have gotten beaten by a pitiful water swordsman, been captured somehow, and ended up strapped to a white table in a purely white room?  Tenten greatly doubted it.  And certainly, if she had been, she wouldn’t spend it doing nothing.  If Lady Tsunade were in her position…

Well, okay, if Lady Tsunade were in her position she would break the cuffs off like clay, punch her way through the wall, summon a few dozen slugs or so, and then proceed to destroy the entire complex.

But Tenten could do none of those things.  So she focused on what she was good at.  Weapons.

For starters, there was the bed, which was apparently able to conduct Raiton energy.  She’d found this out the hard way when the bald man had shown up and she’d refused to answer any of his questions.  That had… hurt.  But she’d kept her silence, and she was proud of that.  A good shinobi was never to reveal information, no matter how trivial.  She just hoped she could keep it up.

The bed, unfortunately, would make a poor weapon, as Tenten was fairly certain it was mounted to the ground.  There was no way to employ its Raiton-conducting energies as a weapon.  Perhaps if she had been a lightning type… but no, no sense dwelling on that.

The cuffs that bound her to the bed, while not strictly weapons, were mechanical, and could be employed as brass knuckles in a pinch.  Tenten’s taijutsu was average, she might be able to handle the guards at the door. 

Those same guards, though, were the chief objects of her attention.  They had come in shortly after the bald man had left, and were standing there, muttering back and forth in some weird jargon.  Both, though, carried some odd devices that they clearly considered weapons, and Tenten had spent the last half-hour trying to figure them out.

They must be projectile weapons, that was clear.  There were no sharp edges and the handle didn’t make it easy to swing.  Plus, the overall form, especially the “trigger” on the handle, was reminiscent of a crossbow.  What puzzled Tenten, however, was that there was no room for an arrow to fit, or indeed of any kind of projectile.  Nor, for that matter, did the men seem to be carrying any kind of additional ammunition for the weapons.

Perhaps ammunition was supplied through summoning scrolls?  But what kind of ammunition would even work in a weapon like that?

Tenten decided to try an experiment.

Taking a deep breath, she lunged as far forward as the cuffs would allow her and let loose a stream of invectives at the guards.  As she expected, the guards glanced at her, gestured, and returned to their discussion.  Undeterred, she continued to shout at them, thrashing about in her cuffs a little for good effect.  She didn’t expect they could understand her—she certainly couldn’t understand them—but she did her best to make the import of her words very clear.  Working up a sizeable wad of spit, she shot it at the nearest guard.

Tenten hadn’t been a weapon’s specialist for five years for nothing.  The spittle hit the man full in the face and he sputtered.  With a yell, he turned to face her, waving his weapon.

It was all Tenten could do not to grin.  From the way he handled it, it was obvious that the projectiles came from the tube-like protrusion at the front of the device.  Shaking the observation from her mind, she continued to rant and scream, drawing on more and more insulting terms.

The man continued to advance on her, shouting back.  Unsurprisingly, Tenten could not understand him either, but again, the essence was clear.  He pointed the tube-like protrusion directly at her face, still shouting.  The other guard was next to him now, shouting at him and attempting to drag the weapon away.

Tenten felt a touch nervous.  The fact that the bald man had left her alive meant that the men would not be allowed to kill her.  She had gambled on that fact and the hope that these men would obey their orders.  But these men seemed poorly disciplined…

Suddenly she noticed the man beginning to lower his weapon.  That couldn’t happen!  Again, hastily, she spat.

Her aim was not quite so good this time and it caught the man on the front of his jacket, but it was enough to reawaken his anger.  Again he raised his weapon and began to shout.  The other shouted something intelligible at him and he froze momentarily.  With baited breath, Tenten watched the two of them.

Finally, with a scream of frustration, the man jerked his weapon away and pulled the trigger.

                Faster than Tenten’s eyes could follow, light burst from the front of the tube and shot toward the opposite wall.  It exploded against the whiteness, leaving a sizeable hole and an impressively large burnt area.

                Tenten’s eyes grew large and darted back and forth from the hole to the weapon.

                She HAD to get one of those.

                The Mangekyo Sharingan was not a well-understood kekkai genkai, due in part to its incredible rarity.  Thus, little was known about its jutsus and their precise inner workings.  Tsukuyomi, for example, while a genjutsu-like jutsu, clearly had several features far beyond the extent of normal genjutsus.

                Sasuke’s Mangekyo Sharingan had recently gained a new ability, of his own design.  It was able to seek out and replay various memories within the victim’s mind.  It was incredibly draining of chakra, so Sasuke didn’t use it often, but in this case he felt he would need it.

                Sifting through painful memories in the blink of an eye, Sasuke found one he felt would suit admirably.  Immediately he began to replay it.

                “You are trapped in a Tsukuyomi.”  He informed the obviously disoriented boy.  “It is a state in which I control space and time.”

                Robin did not reply, merely looking about.  “A circus, eh?” 

                Sasuke was not sure what a ‘circus’ was, so he simply nodded.  

The boy was glancing around at everything in their surroundings.  His eye caught the figures on the trapeze.  “You idiot.  You’re going to make me relive my parent’s murder?”

                “For the next three days,” Sasuke responded, “we will continue to replay these events.”  They suddenly whipped forward and now they were floating in air, just across from the figures whirling on the trapeze.  “This entire process shall take no more than a second in the real world, but I assure you it will be a very real 3 days for you.”

                The two watched silently as the two figures went flying through the air.  They watched as something went horribly wrong with the trapeze.  They watched the man and woman fall and smash against the sand of the circus.  They watched the crowds, the police, the sobbing boy…

                The image froze, shifted apart, and reconstituted.  Again they stood in the circus.  Again they watched two figures go flying through the air.  The trapeze went wrong.  The man and woman fell, smashing to pieces.  Crowds, the police, the sobbing boy…

                After about one day’s worth of repetitions, Sasuke began to feel a trifle annoyed. The boy showed no signs of distress, and was simply watching the murderous cycle with a steady, even gaze.  He wasn’t supposed to be taking it this well. 

Then again, the genjutsu didn’t seem as vivid as usual either.  Sasuke intensified the scene, but the boy showed no reaction.

                Somewhere around the second day, Sasuke finally broke the silence.  “Did you kill him?”

                The boy blinked, momentarily distracted.  “What?”

                “The man who killed your parents.”  The scene shifted, returned to the quiet circus and the two figures swinging on the trapeze.  “Did you kill him?”

                Robin eyed him.  “Why do you ask?”  Sasuke said nothing.  Robin’s eyes narrowed momentarily, then, apparently giving it up, he shrugged.  “No.”

                “Why not.”  Sasuke’s voice was hard and cold.

                “That’s not how we work.”  Robin replied, just as coldly.  “We don’t just beat up whoever we don’t like, and we don’t allow personal vendettas to interfere with what we do.  Plus, we don’t kill people.”

                Sasuke sneered.  “Tch.”

                “I take it you killed the man who killed yours.”  Robin noted.  Sasuke glanced at him sharply and Robin snorted.  “I’ve had a lot of practice at reading stone faces like yours.  Plus, that question of yours kinda gave it away.”

                Feeling strangely annoyed, Sasuke turned back  and intensified the image, zooming in on the parent’s faces, slowing down the moment they hit the floor.  Swords were added to the ground to skewer the couple as they landed.

                “It never gets any better, does it?”

                Sasuke ignored the boy’s remark.

                “People will tell you the pain goes away, that you’ll find a new life, that someday you’ll forget all this.”  Robin swept his hand to indicate the scene, apparently oblivious to his mother’s cracking neck.  “But it never does.  Others will tell you that once you kill those responsible, then you’ll feel complete, then you’ll be able to live with yourself.”  He narrowed his eyes at Sasuke.  “But that doesn’t help either, does it?”

                “Do you always talk this much?” responded Sasuke, feeling another flicker of irritation.

                The other let out a little smile as the scene reset itself to the circus with the three acrobats performing above.  “Only if I have a reason to.  Witty banter distracts the opponent, often causes him to underestimate his foe.”

                Momentarily Sasuke wondered if Naruto had acted under similar motives, but swiftly dismissed the idea.  Naruto was—or had been—a blockhead.  The fact that he had acted in a manner similar to this obviously effective warrior was a mere coincidence.

                “Besides, I spent years training under a humorless grouch, and someone had to keep up the conversation,” continued the teenager.  “In this particular case, I can see that my talking annoys you, so I have all the reason in the world to continue talking.”

                Sasuke immediately attempted to squash the annoyed feeling, but failed miserably.  He intensified the image again.

                “….and I guess I must have eventually passed out.”  The strange girl finished, toying with her fingers.  “I don’t know what happened after that.  You’d have to ask Shikamaru or one of the others.”

                Lois clicked her pen shut, leant back, and stared at the notepad before her.  Since about halfway through the narrative (when she’d realized the girl was definitely NOT talking about the Titan’s battle), she’d been transcribing the girl’s account almost mechanically, suspending her disbelief until she’d finished.

                Well, she had finished.  And Lois couldn’t suspend her disbelief any longer.  According to this girl, she’d been on an assassination mission with eleven other undocumented meta-humans.  A mission, moreover, that was nowhere near Jump City or any place that Lois could identify.

                Casting a look at the nervous girl on the bed, Lois considered things.  The teenager remembered her name—or what she thought was her name—and had an entire story, so she didn’t have amnesia.  Was she possibly delusional?  She mentioned trying to get up time and time again, and being repeatedly hit… perhaps that was a distorted memory of some incident that’d left her like this.  That was the most plausible explanation for her ridiculous story.

                Yet Lois knew as few others did how often the ridiculous turned out to be accurate.  And the girl didn’t seem to be crazy, or lying for that matter.  Could she possibly be telling the truth?

                Only one way to find out.  “What color underwear am I wearing?”

                The girl’s face turned bright red.  “Wh—what?”

                 “You said those eyes of yours can help you look through everything, right?  So what color underwear am I wearing?”

                “Ummm…. Um…”  the girl toyed furiously with her fingers.  “Wh—why do you ask?”

                “I need to tell if you’re being honest, kiddo.”  Lois snapped her fingers.  “C’mon.  Out with it already.”

                The girl swallowed, then brought her fingers up in a curious sign.  “Byakugan!”

                Lois started backwards as veins suddenly bulged on the side of the girl’s head, making her pale eyes suddenly gain a new intensity.   They seemed to glow with an inward fire, and Lois simply knew, looking at them, that they could see literally everything. 

For all of three seconds the girl remained like that.  Finally the veins around her eyes relaxed, returning to normal, and the girl turned away, blushing.  “ummm… pink.”

                “Correct.”  Lois answered distractedly.  Her mind was racing.  She had a new meta on her hands here, with possible links to 11 others, and a strange connection to some paramilitary organization termed “Konoha.”

                If that wasn’t a story, she didn’t know what was.

                “Well then.”  She stood briskly to her feet.  “I’ll tell you what.  You seem pretty fine to me, so I’ll go and talk to the nurses and see if I can’t get you of here.  Then we can maybe go on to my place and we can start looking for these friends of yours.”

                The girl started again.  “Wh-what?”

                “Oh, it won’t be any trouble at all.”  She waved the girl’s concern aside.  “Be like old times, having a roommate and all.”  As she flew out the door, Lois just barely suppressed a grin of anticipation. 

                She was going to milk this story for everything it was worth.

                Another loose thread.  Question felt his irritation rising.  There must be a connection, he knew there HAD to be.  So why couldn’t he find it?

                So far, he’d been through everything his prisoner owned and wore (ignoring the teen’s loud protests).  But none of it had turned up anything. 

Neither the coat nor shirt nor pants seemed to be from any known manufacturer.  The weapons in the pouch, while clearly dangerous, could not be traced to any kind of munitions dealer, and moreover seemed to be rather archaic for an Illuminati operative.  (Some of the knives had little tags hanging from them, covered in strange markings.  Question had no idea what they were, but the boy had gone pale when he’d fingered one).  Also, he found numerous hairs coating the coat… hairs that seemed to be from a dog, but matched no known records.

It was impossible that so many different clues would leave NO hints.  Somewhere, there had a connection. There always was. He just had to keep digging. 

 “Tell me.  Where are your comrades?”

The teen went stiff.  “Comrades?”

“Don’t play games with me.  You went down far too easily, either for a Dragon’s Fang operative or a soldier of this ‘Konoha.’  You must have been in a support role, accustomed to working with others.”  Question frowned.  “Unless, of course, your ineptitude is a result of missing this dog ally of yours.”

“I can’t help you.  I’m not even sure if I have any comrades left, much less where they are.”

“Clever.  And why is that?”

The fanged boy hesitated, but finally admitted.   “We were in a battle and I got hit.  They could be dead by now for all I know.”

“I told you not to play games.  There were no signs of a battle where I found you.”

“Yeah, and I told you that’s ‘cause I’m in the wrong world,” returned the boy in a growl .  “The stars are all wrong here, something musta… I dunno… teleported me or something.”

Suddenly everything become clear.  “Teleportation…” Question muttered.  No wonder none of the boy’s belongings could be connected.  No wonder he seemed so oblivious.  No wonder his weapons were archaic.  “Of course… obvious, in retrospect.”  Question had been following the entirely wrong track.

“Tell me.”  He whirled on Kiba.  “What do you know about the Mayan underground?  Are they still hiding those alien relics?”

“Who the heck are Mayans, and what the heck are aliens?”

                “You were planning to kill this… missing nin.”

                The pale-eyed boy seemed irritated.  He gave a short nod.

                “Why?”

                “It was a mission,” came the response.  “Our team leader had determined he was a threat that could no longer be ignored.  Therefore, an assassination was in order.”

                Superman struggled to keep the distaste off his face.  “And what was your role in this ‘assassination?’”

                The boy clamped his mouth shut, clearly refusing to discuss that matter.

                “You do these assassinations a lot, kid?”  Green Lantern spoke up.  After J’onn’s conversation with the bug boy, they had determined that Lantern’s military expertise might be helpful in talking with the prisoners. 

                 “I am a jounin of my village,” stated the teenager.  “A fully capable shinobi.  I do many things.”

                “Including assassinations.”

                The boy gave another curt nod. 

                “How long have you been doing this?”

                 “I have only been a jounin for a year now.”

                “Do any assassinations before then?”

                The teenager blinked, apparently taken aback by the question.  “Of course.”

                “How many?”

                “I have participated in over twelve B-rank missions, seven of which directly involved assassinations.  Three others incorporated assassination as a crucial element, but not the primary objective.”

                “When did you perform your first assassination?”

                A shrug.  “I don’t remember.  A little before the first chunin exam… so when I was twelve, I suppose.” 

A strange choking sound came from Superman, and the boy glanced sharply over. 

John Stewart, Green Lantern and former US Marine, had seen a lot of things in his life, but this teenager was definitely one of the creepier specimens.  With pale eyes staring directly ahead, mouth set in a terse irritable line, the boy had recited every detail with the utmost placidity and coldness.  He refused to answer certain questions, and if pressed, simply remained silent.  John got the feeling that without the help of a certain Martian telepath in the next room, he and Clark wouldn’t even have gotten as far as they did. 

This teenager was no idealistic superhero, nor any angsty supervillain.  He was every inch the consummate professional soldier, and apparently had been so since his early years.  You couldn’t even compare him to the children fighting in Burma and Sudan, his manner was far too cool and efficient.

John’s thought was broken by a sudden question from said soldier.  “What village is this?”

“I’m sorry?”

“What village am I being imprisoned in?”  The boy repeated.  “I did not recognize it upon my arrival.  What do you mean by defying the ninja alliance, and what do you seek to gain by it?”

“Ninja… alliance?”  John repeated slowly.

“I suppose you are from Iwa.  I have never met your kind before, but your betrayal fits with what I have heard of Iwa’s policies.”  The teen sniffed.  “Tell me, do you mean to eliminate competitors?  Or does your Daimyo simply wish to increase his dominance over the other lands?”

Superman glanced in consternation at John, who simply sighed.  “Son, we’re not from this ‘Iwa’ place, okay?”

“No?  Then what nation do you serve?”

“We… don’t serve any nation.”  Superman replied, glancing back and forth between John and the boy.

“Ah.  You are mercenaries then.”

“No!”  John and Clark exploded almost simultaneously.

The boy stared at them, astounded by their outburst.  “Then… who do you work for?”

“We don’t work for anyone!”  Superman cried, incredibly flustered.  “We’re the Justice League!”

“So you are missing nins.”

Clark and John exchanged a look.  “Sure.”

“I see.”  The boy snorted.  “In that case, do what you wish.  I have nothing to say to scum like you.”

Superman blinked.  “Now wait a minute.  What makes you think we’re scum?”

 “Please.”  The teen sneered.  “You have no loyalty, no honor, and no clan.  What else could you be?  Without any allegiances or obligations, the only things you truly serve are yourselves.”  The boy spat with disturbing accuracy at Superman.  “Traitors.  You answer to no one.  You believe in nothing.”

“No, listen, when I said we weren’t working for anyone, I meant…” Superman gave it up.  “Just… forget it, okay?  It’s not like that.”

John decided they’d gotten as much as they were likely to.  “Let’s go, Supes,” he said, putting a hand on Clark’s shoulder.

“Hmph,” muttered the boy behind them.  “If you are honest, release us.  We have done nothing.”

“That’s more than we know.”  John returned as they walked out.

The teenager shrugged.  “Send a messenger to Konoha if you doubt our story.  Surely the winged lady could travel quickly enough.”

John froze.

Karin generally enjoyed hospitals.  After all, she was a scientist, nearly as at home in a hospital as she would be in a lab.  She had many happy memories of working in hospitals.

However, being treated in (what she assumed was) a hospital was a new experience, and rather terrifying.  Due to her recuperative abilities, Karin had never really needed significant care in a hospital, and the few times she had, she hadn’t needed steel manacles holding her arms and legs to the bed. 

Karin knew exactly what kind of ‘patients’ necessitated such bedding conditions, and was agonizingly familiar with many of the innumerable procedures that could be done to such ‘patients.’   A lifetime spent under Orochimaru, working for Orochimaru, did not exactly make one comfortable with the idea of being chained to a bed.

So when the window above her became clear and the predatory grin of the bald man on the other side appeared, Karin screamed, “I’LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING IF YOU’LL JUST KILL ME PAINLESSLY!”

                Robin flinched slightly as the man and women smashed into the ground, but appeared otherwise unmoved.  “You know, it’s not like you’re the first person to try this trick.  Scarecrow, Headmaster, Dr. Destiny… I’ve had more people then you’d believe dig up this scene and show it to me.  And no offense, but compared to them?  You stink at this.”

                “Be quiet.”  Sasuke growled at the teenager, who was really starting to annoy him.  He’d intensified the image several times now, to the point where the couple now screamed their whole fall down to smash right in front of them.  The earth suddenly twisted into a sea of swords which hacked their bodies to pieces.  Through all of this, though, Robin had continued speaking, and Sasuke was starting to wish the teenager would just shut up.

                He didn’t.  “I’ll bet I can guess why, too.  This sort of thing is too close to you.  You understand it too well to go all the way.”

                Sasuke did not respond.

                After studying him for a moment, Robin turned back.  “So.  Let me guess.  Your parents died when you were young, and now you’ve got a vengeance complex built up.  I understand that, believe me.”  Robin’s face wrinkled a little more sharply as the acrobatic duos plunged into the swords again.  “In your case, though, I’m guessing you’ve got some ego-centric issues—that you’re somehow ‘different’ than anyone else because of this experience and that means you  can just do whatever.”

                “You know nothing.”  Sasuke hissed.  “You know nothing of the pain I have endured, you cannot conceive…”

                “Tch.  I know what it’s like to lose your parents.  I know what it is to lead a life in the shadows, trained by a man who barely knows how to live himself.  I know what it is to sacrifice any chance at a normal life for the protection of others, which I get the feeling is something you DON’T know.”  

                “Oh?  And what about losing your entire clan?  Do you know what that is like?”  Sasuke clutched his fists at his sides.  How could this boy be so annoying!  This was his world!  HE was supposed to be in control. 

“No.”  Robin shrugged.  “Do you know what it’s like to lose your entire planet?  Your entire species?  Neither do I, but I know plenty who have, and none of them are as big a loser as you are.”  Robin laughed.  “So you’ve lost a lot.  But have you ever sacrificed something?  Or do you just think you deserve everything outright?   Cause seriously?  That’s like a little baby whining for toys he can’t have.”

“You…!”  Sasuke whirled on the mental image of Robin.  His eyes flashed and suddenly Robin was pierced thirty times over with swords that shot from the ground, turning a bloody mess of arms and legs hanging before a raving Sasuke.  “My pain is greater than you can possibly imagine!  How could you…”

                A scream broke him off and he looked up to see the falling forms of the acrobats.  They flashed toward him, rushing at the ground which was already turning into daggers, and as they fell Sasuke looked up at the woman’s face.

                It was the face of his mother.

                With an inarticulate scream, Sasuke whipped himself away, into the Titan’s tower room.  He recoiled from Robin and smashed into the computer.  Pale and shaking, he regarded Robin, who also looked very white and strained, but still defiant. 

                 “That’s a new one, boss.”  Suigetsu eyed them strangely. 

                Ignoring his underling, Sasuke got to his feet as calmly as possible, trying to force strength into his legs.  Once he was finally on his feet, he turned away from the prisoner to face the window.  “Take him away,” he said.  “There’s nothing more we can learn from this one.”

Back in the observation room, Lantern turned to J’onn.  “You sure these kids aren’t part of an invasion force?”

 “I found no indication of any hostile intent toward, or even knowledge of, this world prior to their incarceration,” nodded J’onn.   “Mr. Terrific, as you know, came to similar conclusions based on his physical assessment of their condition.”

Superman shuddered.  “But the things he’s saying…”

“That’s not the issue.”  Lantern shook his head.  “There’s nothing unusual about child soldiers, Clark.  It’s not pretty, but it happens.  When times get rough, sometimes even the kids fight.  This one just happens to be much more powerful and well-trained than your typical sixteen-year-old.”

Superman frowned but let the subject drop.  “Well if that’s not bothering you… what is?”

“The whole situation.  Okay, sometimes people fall through dimensional holes, but seven of them?  In coordinated attack groups, at different strategic locations?  These guys aren’t scientists, they’re not curious aliens, they’re soldiers.  Soldiers don’t just stumble into trans-dimensional warp-holes without knowing what they’re doing.”

“What do soldiers do when they find trans-dimensional warp holes?”

John frowned.  “I don’t know… Radio to base?  Set up a perimeter?  Ignore it and move on?  They could do a lot of things, but they wouldn’t just decide to run through to see what it’s like.”

“On Stargate they build a base around it and send a robot ahead of them.”  Flash volunteered.

“But these kids fell from the sky, John.”  Superman argued.  “If they were attacking, I don’t think they’d choose a place where they were falling to their death.”

“Oh?  Who says they were falling to their death?”  John arched a dark eyebrow.  “Superman, we don’t even know all the things these guys can do yet.  That kid back there knew about Shayera on the upper deck, and she hasn’t even come into the room.  What makes you think those kids you saved couldn’t fly?  They might have been planning an attack.”

“And given that they have apparently have experience dealing with telepaths, they may be intentionally shielding their minds from me.”  J’onn nodded thoughtfully.  “Yes… I am inclined to doubt it, but it is entirely possible.  The dark boy certainly seems able to repulse me, and the girl… might be able to shield the others.”

                John arched an eyebrow, but did not comment.  “The whole thing just seems too damn fishy to me.  We don’t know anything for sure.  Even if their story about this ‘Uchiha Sasuke’ is correct, we may be getting a slightly biased view.”

                “That’s possible.  ‘Fugitive’ can mean any number of things, he could have been a freedom fighter for all we know.  These kids might not be the ‘good guys’ after all.  Talking to that kid in there…”  Superman shivered.

                “That guy?  He’s not so bad.”  John shook his head.  “He’s no hero, but so far as I can tell he’s guilty of nothing worse than following orders.  It’s just the nature of those orders that makes me nervous.”

                Rubbing his chin, J’onn considered things a moment.  “We can do nothing more than we are already.”  He finally decided.  “We have teams covering all the rift points and scouting the nearby areas.  Neither Question nor the Titans have responded yet, but outside of that, the most we can do is to update the League members and warn them to be cautious.”

                “You called to tell me to be careful?”  Batman grunted into his communicator. 

                There was a trace of amusement in the response.  “As a way of letting you know that we’re passing on similar instructions to the rest of the team, yes.”

                “About time.  Heard anything from the other teams?”

                “Hawkgirl’s team has yet to find anything.  Flash and Supergirl have been through Metropolis several times, but they haven’t reported anything unusual.  Neither Question nor the Teen Titans have reported in, but we…”

                “Wait.”  Batman’s voice cut through J’onn’s methodical account.  “The Titan’s haven’t responded to your call?”

                 “No.”

                Batman frowned.  “Something’s wrong.”  He muttered, switching off the communicator.  

                Luthor examined the results on the sheet before him.  Overall, he felt rather pleased with the fruits of his rounds.  The blonde had told him some rather obvious lies and the brunette had been obstinately silent, but he’d get them to tell him the truth soon enough.  Information obtained through torture always had an element of unreliability to it, though.  Perhaps he’d try some other things first.  The lazy one, certainly, despite his gall, seemed like the type to listen to reason. 

                But the last…  Luthor smiled as he looked over that portion of the chart.  The last had been SO helpful.  A wealth of information, not only about her and her abilities, but also some VERY interesting data about where she—and, Luthor calculated, the others—came from.  She hadn’t said all she knew, he was sure, but that fear of hers would bring it out sooner or later.  In the meantime, the information she’d given him on the other inmates would be helpful. 

Still, Luthor felt the dregs of bitterness.  There was something wrong here.  A hole of some kind… a missing piece that kept everything from falling into place.  It had to do with their entry into this world, that much he knew, but the girl had been sadly—and honestly, he felt—unable to help him on that point.  So where was it?

                “Sir?”  An orderly appeared at his elbow.

                Luthor did not look up.  “Yes?”  he muttered distractedly, still picking through the reports.

                “Our sources in the League indicate that they’ve been on high alert since last night, after a classified transmission from Batman.”  The man adjusted his glasses.  “They have several parties combing the countryside.  One even swept by us, but fortunately…”

                “Last night?”  Luthor frowned.  “What time last night?”

                A slight pause.  “3:16 am, sir.”

                “I see.”  Musing, Luthor tapped the edge of the clipboard against his chin.  “They must know about this somehow.  But how?  We’ve kept them…” he narrowed his eyes.

                He turned to his assistant.  “Where are they looking?”

                “Metropolis, Jump City, Hub City, Gotham, according to our sources,” came the response.  “And here.”

                “Send teams to each of the cities.”  Luthor snapped.  “They’re not to draw attention from the metas, but to attempt to capture any Japanese-speaking teenagers with unusual powers.  Capture, not kill, understand?”

                The assistant nodded and was opening his mouth to reply when a dull boom shook the facility.  

Chapter Text

                 “Could you please repeat that, Wonder Woman?”  Mr. Terrific’s voice was careful, polite.  “I could have sworn you just said Batman suddenly decided to leave Gotham and told you to keep searching without him.”

                Diana, from the bowels of her invisible plane, shrugged.  “Well, I suppose theoretically Batgirl is keeping an eye on me from the Cave, but essentially, yes, that’s what happened.”

                “But… this is Bats.  This is GOTHAM.  He barely lets anyone else in there, much less leave them in there without supervision.”

                “I don’t understand it either.  He seemed in an awful hurry about something.”

                “Really?”  There was a slight pause.  “He never contacted us about anything.”

                Diana grimaced.  “Of course he didn’t.  He said it was some ‘personal business.’”

                The black ship cut silently through the wind toward the island.  Batman edged it up, a little further into the clouds hanging low over the bay.  He was too visible in the day like this, and if his suspicions were correct (and they usually were), the last thing he wanted to do now was to attract attention. 

                Robin had done a decent job of handling the Titan computer bank, he had to admit, and the modifications made by that Cyborg boy hadn’t hurt either.  When the Titan’s Tower had first been constructed, it had taken Bruce nearly four hours to hack into the Titan database.  At the time, Alfred had asked him if it was really worth it.  Surely his former student could take care of himself, and surely there would never be a need to attack the Titans themselves.

                Bruce grimly wondered what the old man might think now.  The Trojan horse he’d left in their database was still active, and though some new safeguards kept him from going everywhere he wanted to, he already could tell there was something very wrong at the Tower.  The defenses had been destroyed.  Security across the base had been disabled—Bruce had the feeling forcibly, as he could not find the security feeds.   The computers and communications were online, yet they had not responded to any messages. 

                And, now that he got closer, he could see another bad sign.  There was a large, gaping hole in the front of the building.

                The computer had located several police feeds that mentioned an undocumented battle at the Titan’s tower last night.  Putting that together with everything else, and taking into account that Jump City had been the location of one of the unaccounted rifts, it was not too hard to guess what had happened.

                Damn that boy, Bruce growled as he banked the Batplane into a steep turn.  Why couldn’t he have just stayed in Gotham?  No, he had to come here, to Jump City, and get this tangle team together just to prove a point.  And now he’d gone and gotten them all in a fine mess.

                Well, there was really only one thing to do.

                I’d better get lower.  Batman decided.  Enter the Tower from the waterways.

                Naruto almost felt as if he really ought to be more careful throwing the guards around.  After all, they didn’t have the invulnerability he had, and it wasn’t particularly THEIR fault they were in the way of his getting to Shikamaru.

                Than another one of their weapons shot at him, and he promptly forgot the qualm.  Those blasts of light didn’t do any damage to him right now, but they kinda stung, and the way they exploded against the wall warned him that there was probably something dangerous about them.  With a burst of speed he closed the gap between them and sent the man flying with one well-placed punch.  He tore into the others, hurling hapless guards left and right, like just so many leaves before the wind of his strength.

                Naruto was headed for Shikamaru’s room.  Not only was the lazy genius the closest to Naruto’s current position, he also might be able to help in freeing the others, at least better than Tenten or the mystery ninja might. 

                If there hadn’t been so many guards in his way, he might have been there already.  Seriously, there were so MANY of them!  This bald guy must have had half the whole freaking Sound village in his base!   Naruto felt himself get pushed back a few feet as another bolt of light knocked him in the chest.  He shot forward, grabbed the man’s weapon and broke it in half.  Ducking beneath a fresh salvo from the man’s comrades, he swept his arm in a broad arc, knocking the lot of them as a group and sending them flying in various directions. 

He whirled around at a strange clanking noise to see a large metal cart coming swiftly down the hall at him.  Without stopping to wonder why a cart, of all things, would be attacking him, or what the shining metal tube on the front was for, Naruto leapt up, bouncing against the wall, the ceiling, the other wall, and the ceiling again, before coming down on the strange object.  A ball of chakra formed in his palm.

“Rasengan!”  The cart blew apart in a mass of metal and fire.  A fresh hail of glowing bolts alerted him to a fresh troop of soldiers attacking from the other side, and he leapt at them.  He was nearly there now.  Just a little bit further…

And suddenly Naruto was hit by something very fast, very heavy, and very painful.

                “Wake up, kiddo, we’re here!”  Hinata found herself being shaken awake by Lois.  “Welcome to Metropolis!”

                Hinata glanced up and gasped.  She’d thought Jump City, with its enormous structures of glass and steel, had been impressive enough, but the monoliths towering over this skyline made the other city look like a toy village.  Light glinted off the sides of countless towers that loomed above Lois’ tiny car and the million others surrounding it.

                Chuckling at the girl’s obvious surprise, Lois half-turned to address her.  “Quite a place, isn’t it?”

                “Y-y-y-yes.”  Hinata agreed, her wonder only worsening her usual stutter.

                “Metropolis is one of the biggest cities in the world,” said Lois, returning her attention to the road.  “One of the greatest, too, if you ask me.  Everyday I’m not on call somewhere, I wake up and I thank my stars I live here instead of some dried-out backwater place in Kansas.”  She snorted for some reason.  “Clark… wonder how he stands it.”

                “Who’s Clark?”

                Lois glanced over at her disinterestedly.  “Him?  Co-worker of mine.  Sweet and all, but as dense as heck.”  She shook her head momentarily.  “Anyway, if there’s anything you want to do, Metropolis is the place to do it.  We’ve got everything here, libraries, museums,  amusement parks, airports, skyscrapers, rocket launch facilities…”  she chuckled momentarily.  “Citizens were peeved about that at first, but Lex managed to sneak it in somehow.”  She continued.   “Research labs, observatories, and, of course, the Metro Tower.”

                “Metro Tower?”

                “Yeah, you know, Metro Tower, where the Justice League…”  Lois stopped at the look on the girl’s face.  “You don’t know who the Justice League is either, do you?”  At the girl’s negative shake, she gave a little sigh.  “Well… I’ll explain later.  They’re heroes… kinda like our protectors, I guess, but…”  she trailed off.  “You’ll understand if you meet them.  Anyway, the only one that’s really important is Superman.”

                “Superman?”

                Lois laughed, but to Hinata it sounded a little… different than before.  Almost giddy.  “Ohhhhhh yeah.  Superman is THE Metropolis man.  Can’t miss him.  Big blue suit, bright red cape, bright red boots, bright red… well, you get the idea.”  Sighing, she stared out the window at the sky for a moment.  “Every so often you’ll see him streak across the sky and know that he’s watching out for you… us, I mean.”  She added hurriedly.  “He looks out for all of us.”

                Hinata wondered why the description seemed so familiar to her, and why she felt a close kinship with Lois.  “What’s he like?” She asked her.

                Her face alight with surprise, Lois glanced at her quickly, but took another moment before replying.  “Well… I already told you what he looks like, but…” a dreamy smile took hold of her face.  “As for what he’s like, well, that’s another story, you’re right.”

                Waiting, Hinata allowed herself a grin of her own.  She knew now what felt so familiar.  She recognized that look on Lois’ face.

                “He’s like… so unbelievable, you know?” mused her driver.  “He’s so completely out of this world, so amazingly powerful and yet… and yet… he’s just so human.  Heck, he’s more human than most humans, if that makes any sense.  He’s always nervous all the time—he told me once he had nightmares about his power going out of control and killing everyone—and he’s so desperate to help.  It’s like he’s got this need to… to save everybody, if that’s even possible.”  She shook her head.  “All that power and he… he decides to use it to help us?  Just like that?  Without anything in return?”  She let out a long sigh.  “I tell you, kid, I’ve been following him for forever, and I still don’t understand why he’s so amazing.  But he is.  He is so incredibly, unbelievably amazing.”

                “I see.”  Hinata murmured.  And she did.  She really did.  Even if she didn’t know this ‘Superman,’ she completely recognized the person Lois was describing.  And she agreed with the reporter wholeheartedly, he was amazing.

                For a moment the two sat in companionable silence, before Lois finally broke the calm with a little chuckle.  “And just in case, little missy, don’t get any ideas about muscling in on him.  He’s mine.”

                “Hmm?” Questioned the girl, momentarily puzzled.  Then, suddenly understanding, her eyes grew wide and she nodded at the reporter, smiling.  “Of course, Lois-san.”

                Lois couldn’t resist.  She reached over and tousled the teenager’s hair.  “You’re alright, you know that, kid?”  She grinned.  “Now, let’s get you…”  Suddenly something caught her eye and she glanced upwards at the sky.  “What the heck?”

                “What?”  Hinata looked up too.

                She had just a fleeting glimpse of something shooting overhead before there was an incredible rumble and the city up ahead exploded into dust.

                Most of the heroes in the Metro Tower had no warning.   The few who did had no time to prepare themselves before an enormous rumble shook the building, throwing half of them to the floor.  Klaxons began to sound and lights flashed.

Superman was beside the computer bank in an instant.  “What is it, J’onn?”

                “Looks like something just crashed into downtown Metropolis.”  Muttered the Martian, his eyes glued to one of the working monitors.  “Smashed right through the Daily Planet and several other buildings. ”

                “How bad was the explosion?”

                “There doesn’t seem to have been one.  The blast we felt must just have been the force of it hitting the ground.  There is now a rather sizeable crater in City Square.”

                “We need to help.”  Superman turned to the floor.  “Atom Smasher!  Blue Devil!  Stargirl!  Get downtown and contain the panic, now!  Clear the buildings and make sure everyone’s out of that area, but don’t go near the crater unless you have to!”  Nodding as he saw the assigned heroes speed for the door, he turned back to the Martian.  “Any idea what hit us?”

“Not yet… could be a meteorite, an alien vessel, a stray shot from… one moment.”  He tapped a few keys.  “Visual coming onscreen now.”  The two heroes were treated to a sight of dust settling over devastated area.  Pavement, street lamps, and buildings were all thrown up around a crater nearly a hundred feet in diameter.

Superman’s eyes narrowed.  “Increase magnification 25% on lower right-hand corner.”

The computer obligingly did so.  In the center of all the dust and smoke, a small orange figure could be seen getting to his feet.

Superman and J’onn stared at it for a moment.  “Okay, a meta then.”  Superman nodded.

“Apparently one that flies.”  J’onn noted helpfully.

“Or at least crashes.  Make sure the team knows, and get some others on standby.”  Superman frowned.  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

                I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

                Suigetsu, having never really bothered with computers, wasn’t really sure what the beeping sound coming from the monitor was supposed to mean, but it didn’t sound friendly.  The fact that it was accompanied by a red flashing light didn’t make him feel any better about it.

                Of course, the fact that his boss was standing just behind him, frowning at him and asking HIM to tell him what it meant made it even worse.

                “Come on, Suigetsu.”  Sasuke grunted.  “What is it doing?  What’s that supposed to mean?”

                The swordsman offered the only thing he could think of.  “I’m… pretty sure it’s bad.”

                “Obviously.”

                “I don’t know… the last time I saw one of these things this was back when I was in the tube. “  He bit his finger.  “They did this sometimes…  usually just before something went wrong with some other tube and it exploded or froze or dried up or something.”  He shrugged.  “Maybe… the water around here is about to freeze?”

                Sasuke’s glare did not express agreement.   “Suigetsu…”

                “Look, I don’t know what it means, okay?  They didn’t have anything like this back at Orochimaru’s, at least not that I saw.”  He glanced over his shoulder.  “Juugo…?”  he asked hopefully.

                A blank look was his only response.  “I spent most of my time in a maximum security chamber surrounded by armed guards, and half of that time I was insane.  What makes you think I’d know anything about this?”

                “Right…”

                “Pathetic.”  Sasuke snorted.  “What am I supposed to do with two such worthless servants?”

                “Gomenasai, Sasuke-sama.”  Juugo murmured. 

Suigetsu did not submit so easily.  “Hey, you can’t tell what it means either.”  He argued.  “And you trained UNDER Orochimaru.  Didn’t he ever tell you anything about this stuff?”

Freezing Suigetsu with one glaring red eye, Sasuke sniffed. “Of course not.  I was training in jutsus, why would I have ever studied something as unimportant as computers?”

It occurred to Suigetsu that apparently the matter was no longer so unimportant, but he thought it best not to mention that while he was looking straight at the Sharingan.  Slowly, they all looked back at the screen, which was still flashing and still beeping.  For a moment they stood there in silence, studying it.

Suigetsu, unsurprisingly, spoke first.  “So… what do you figure it means?”

Fortunately, at that moment the light stopped flashing.  Unfortunately, so did every other light in the room.  The entire tower was plunged in complete darkness.

I REALLY have a bad feeling about this.

                “Ohhhh…”  Naruto picked himself from the ground, ears ringing.  Sage mode or not, that had HURT.  He was pretty sure he’d smashed through half a mountain and part of several buildings just getting here, and he hadn’t hit the ground very softly either.  In fact, if he hadn’t worked so hard on perfecting Sage Mode, he seriously doubted he’d have survived it.

                Shoot, if he hadn’t perfected it, he kinda doubted he’d have survived the initial attack that’d sent him flying.  Naruto frowned, wiping the dirt of his face.  He still wasn’t exactly sure what had hit him.  One second he’d been smashing guards all over the place, the next he’d sensed an enormous source of chakra materializing right next to him, the next… he’d been flying through the air.

                Well, at least now he was outside.  Coughing, Naruto stood to his feet, blinking at the city around him.   So this was their village.  Impressive, to say the least.  Not even Amegakure had had buildings like these, so tall and shiny.  In the buildings and on the street, he could sense thousands of people around him.  All without chakra, unsurprisingly, but that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.  He wondered how far he’d flown from the dungeon area and how long it would take the Kage or whatever they had to send people after him.

                Suddenly, he stiffened, sensing a sudden rush of creatures toward his location.

                I guess not very long, he thought grimly, shifting stance. 

                Maggie Sawyer knew she should find a new job.  She really did.  But how the heck are you supposed to do that when you have superpowered whatsits punting random kids into downtown Metropolis?  How do you just walk away from a police force that has to deal with inner-city earthquakes caused by super brawls?

                Answer:  you don’t.  You hang around until you’re a physical liability and then you try to find some way to sacrifice yourself in the line of duty.

                Which was what found Sawyer on the lip of a hundred-foot crater with about sixty other officers, all aiming their weapons at a rather angry-looking teenager at the bottom.  Looking at his face, Sawyer REALLY wished she could bring up the other forty men she’d brought with her, but they were busy enough evacuating the area.  The only thing that made her feel good about the situation at all was the knowledge that the Justice League must know about it, and were probably on their way also.

                Which meant they needed to at least hold the kid here until the big guns arrived.

                “Listen!”  she shouted down at him.  “We have you surrounded on all sides!”  Technically not true, they barely had enough to cover the one, but she thought it was worth a try.  “Lay down your…”  she hated this part, “…weapons, artifacts, magical devices, power rings, or any other augmentable accessories and stick your hands in the air!”

                The angry face switched to one of confusion.  “Nani?”

                Great.  Just great.  Not only did they have a meta, they had a meta that couldn’t understand them.  Had this kid flown all the way from the Pacific?  Sawyer glanced up and down the line of troopers.  “You!”  she hissed, picking out an oriental-looking SWAT officer.  “You speak Japanese?”

                The man shook his head.  “I’m from Brooklyn, ma’am.”

                “Crap!  What about the rest of you?  Know any Japanese?”

                “Nope.”

                “Not really.”

                “Got bad grades in English.”

                “Que dice?”

                “Shh, Pablo!”

                “My kid watches some TV shows…”

                “Okay, I get it!”  She hissed.  “Alright, so you don’t know Japanese.”   She touched her radio.  “Thompson, this is Sawyer.  We need a translator down at…” 

                A startled yelp interrupted her and she glanced up.  Several men of her men had whirled and were pointing their guns at a tall, blue skinned creature with cloven hoofs, a tail, horns, and a trident.  Just behind him, she could see an enormous man in a mask striding forward, while a girl hovered anxiously overhead, shouting various pacifying expressions at the gun-wielding officers.

                Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose.  She really needed to find a new job.

                An irate shadow slipped through the darkened hallways of Titan’s Tower.  Batman was swiftly growing frustrated with the situation.  When he’d cut the power, he’d expected the Titans to come breaking out of their energy-fed cells and attack the intruders.

                He hadn’t planned on the teens being imprisoned in an entirely different location.  Now he had to wander over the entire base looking for them.

                It’d have to be some of the more heavily fortified rooms, he felt sure.  Nothing less could’ve kept them imprisoned for long.  Most likely, that meant the training facilities, built to withstand attacks from all four superheroes.

                He had one advantage, he supposed.  His virus had performed well, triggering the proximity air alert as a distraction for him to penetrate the underwater entrance.  That meant they would be busy searching for the outside threat, not for the inside one.  And even if they did, the virus would have disabled all internal sensors, so they would have no idea of his presence.

                Training room.  There.  And, if the massive amounts of equipment piled against it was any indication, that’s where the captive Titans were.

                Batman frowned at the pile blocking the door.  If it’d been a tri-coded biometrics lock, he could have simply hacked into it and opened the door.  If it had been a simple eight-pin titanium lock with several layers of redundancy, he could have easily picked it. 

                But it was a pile.  And no matter how many different ways you looked at it, there was only really one way to get past a pile without making a big noise.  With a disgruntled sigh, Batman set to work clearing it away.  

                Five minutes later, the door was clear.  On a hunch, Batman tried the door.  It was unlocked.

                Figures. 

                It did not improve his mood to find that his entrance went entirely unnoticed.  Hasn’t Robin taught them anything?  He wondered.  I could kill them like this!  If I were their captors, this would be a prime time to attack me!

                Two seconds later, he revised that. 

                A green bolt of energy lanced out of the darkness, striking him full in the chest and smashing him into the back wall.  Pushing past the pain, he rolled aside out of the way of another blast and tensed, ready to move again.

                “Stay back!” came a defiant, though quavering, voice.   “Do not approach friend Raven and I, or I shall be forced to begin the disintegration!”

                The Tamaranian.  “Starfire, correct?”  Finally catching sight of her crouched against the far wall, he lit a flare to reveal himself.

The girl’s eyes widened.  “B-batman!”  She whispered, face brightening.  “Oh this is most joyous!  I offer the apologies for my rash actions, but I did not…”

“It’s alright.”  He assured her, striding forward.  “Where’s Robin and the rest of them?”

“I do not know.” 

He suppressed a groan.  Figures.  “Fine.  What about your attackers?  How many in the tower?”

“There were three who attacked us.”  She replied quickly.  For some reason she didn’t seem to be able to get up, and remained crouched on the floor as he approached.   “One can be able to turn his body into water, another had the strength and could change his body shape, and the other…”  she frowned.  “I sorrow, but I don’t know.”

At the very least, she seemed capable of summing up situations, Batman noted approvingly.   And now that he was closer, he could see why she couldn’t move.  The whole left side of her was bruised and bloody, and from the stiff way she held herself up, he guessed that the damage was more than surface deep.  “Broken ribs?”  He questioned, kneeling.

She nodded.  “My right leg also.  The strong one was very fast.”

                “Hmm,” he nodded, working quickly with his first aid kit.  He could splint the leg with some bits from the debris outside, and perhaps work something out for the cracked rib, but the girl would definitely need medical attention quickly. 

The glint of metal caught his eye and he examined the mangled steel bindings on her wrists.  Apart from some rather odd symbols painted onto the surface, they seemed to be very ordinary—and hence inadequate—handcuffs.  “They tried to restrain you?”  He cocked an eyebrow at her.  “With these?”

Starfire nodded.

Snorting, Batman finished up.  These intruders couldn’t be very bright, if they had thought things like that would hold a Tamaranian.  “Can you walk now?”

“I can fly.”  She shrugged

  He’d forgotten that.  He moved over to the dark bundle in the corner.  Hunched in a small ball, the pale girl appeared to be completely unconscious.  “What’s wrong with her?”

He could almost hear the confusion in the other girl’s voice.  “I do not know!  Friend Raven was like that when I awoke in the room, and she will not respond to my entreaties.  It is most distressing!  Friend Cyborg said the third one had wounded her, but she does not seem injured!”

“No she doesn’t,” mused he, giving the girl a quick diagnosis.  There didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with the girl.  Perhaps magic?  From what he knew of this girl, she should be fairly resilient to such things, but at the same time she might be especially vulnerable in certain areas also.  But… the visitors he had encountered had exhibited no magic-like powers.

With a frown, he shook his head clear of the problems, deciding to settle them later.  He opened the cuffs holding the girl—noting again the strange symbols—and threw her over his shoulder.  “We’re going down to the underwater entrance.”  He informed the Tamaranian.  “My sub is waiting down there.  I need you and her to stay put there until I return with the others.”

“But… but…”  the girl’s forehead furrowed in distress, “but I wish to help friends Robin, Cyborg and Beastboy also!”

“You’re in no condition to fight, and I need you to guard her.”  Batman replied evenly, indicating the comatose Raven.  Truthfully, he simply wanted the two girls out of his way.  Despite the impressive records of both, Batman preferred to work by himself, especially on a stealth infiltration like this one.  With hostages still in the building, it was best to avoid confronting any of the intruders.

Unfortunately, they ended up confronting one right at the underwater entrance.  A silver-haired one with a disturbingly large sword.

                Naruto studied the group of soldiers on the hill.  They seemed to be conferring about something, probably the three people he had sensed approaching their location.  Carefully he focused on the group, trying to determine as much as he could about them.

                Suddenly he stiffened.  One of the three had chakra!  A lot of chakra! 

So far, Naruto had only met one sizeable source of chakra in this world, and he had no desire to meet it again.  Swiftly he turned and darted away from the team on the hill, straight for the gleaming towers on the other side. 

Behind him he heard a sharp exclamation and several loud pops.  Dust was kicked up around him and several things whizzed past his ear, but he kept running.  He sensed the other three, including the chakra source, shoot forward at him, and he leapt into the air at the building.  It was a little difficult to anchor his feet on the smooth metal (glass?) surface of the building, but he managed it and kept running.  To his surprise, the chakra source, along with the biggest of the three, stopped at the foot of the building.

To his greater surprise, the third jumped into the air and flew.  At him. 

Naruto had met a great many ninjas, but not many of them could fly.  Even less of them could move as quickly or as fast as the girl pursuing him.  To make matters worse, he could hear her babbling out the name of a new jutsu.

Thinking quickly, he turned and leapt at her.  “RASENGAN!”

                Shaking off the safety straps, Diana popped open her aircraft’s canopy and climbed out.  She loved her plane, she really did, and its invisibility made it a wonderful tool for stealth and recon, but after combing the city three times without result, Diana was tired of it. 

Diana was, first and foremost, a warrior.  A princess also, an immortal, a creature blessed by the gods, but foremost, she was a warrior. And warriors, at least Amazonian ones, did not hide.  They met and faced their foes head-on.  In her time of exile from Themyscira, Diana had learned to modify this view somewhat, but she still preferred open and honorable combat.

Batman did not, she knew.  And as she was in Batman’s city, she had felt it only right to follow his path and do things quietly.

But that wasn’t working.  Try though she might, she could not find the three teenagers Batman had described.  Wherever they were, they were staying low.  Doubtless she could outwait them, but as she’d told Batman, time was of the essence here.  They needed to find the dimensional visitors soon.  And—she felt a shamefaced smile tug at her lips—a small part of her wanted to find and defeat them before Batman returned from his “private business.”   If she could do that, it would be an infallible proof that she could help him in his quest to save Gotham.

So Wonder Woman, immortal princess of the Amazons, stepped from her plane and flew off into the Gotham skies.

If she could not find the prey, she would draw it out.

Suigetsu grinned as he regarded the strange trio.  Though he wasn’t sure who the man in the dark cape was, he didn’t look particularly threatening, and the blue-cloaked girl over his shoulder was completely unconscious.  The only real threat was the orange girl in purple, and he’d fought her before.  This should be easy.

                Finding them had been surprisingly simple.  After the lights went out, Sasuke had ordered him into the water so he could defend against any attacks.  He had sensed the strange vessel almost immediately, but by the time he’d tracked it to the underwater cave, there was no one to be found.  Unwilling to leave such an obvious clue, he’d hung around in the shadows until the owner returned. 

Patience had paid off, the owner was here, and the two girl prisoners with him.  “Thought you were getting out this way, did you?” he taunted.

The dark man regarded him impassively.  “You have one chance to surrender.” 

“Huh?”  Suigetsu cocked an incredulous eyebrow.  “No, I’m pretty sure you got that the wrong way around there.  YOU have one chance to surrender.  And actually…” he grinned.   “…I don’t even think I’m gonna give you that.”

He dashed forward, but before he could blink, the man had leapt away and tossed his unconscious cargo to the orange girl.  “Get out of here and head for the clock tower!”  He ordered.

“But…!”

“Keep out of this!” he warned, shooting her a glance.  Hesitating only momentarily, she gathered her friend’s body in her arms and flew for the underwater exit.

“Hey!”  Suigetsu’s eyes widened.  Sasuke’d kill him if they got away!  Quickly he dashed back toward the water.  The dark man blocked his path, but he turned into water and went straight through him, diving into the pool on the other side.  The orange shape of the girl was growing distant in the water already, but for an elemental like him, that should be no…

Coldness shot through him and he found himself locked in place, unable to pursue.  Glancing back, he saw why.  His legs, and the entire section of water surrounding them, were frozen in one huge block of ice.  Just above, he could see a large, dark shape descending.

Seriously?  This guy could do that too?

He had no more time than that to get angry, for the next second the man was smashing into the ice, and Suigetsu was experiencing something vaguely like having his legs snapped off at the knee.  It was only an annoyance—he swiftly made a new pair out of water—but it hurt.

“Darn you.”  He snarled, coming up out of the water.  “You’re gonna pay for that.”

The man snorted and threw one of his strange boomerang things into the rafters above the pool.  Suigetsu glanced up at it, puzzled, then his eyes widened with sudden comprehending.

A long cable, crackling with Raiton energy, fell into the pool.

Wonder Woman sighed as she scanned the streets below.  Though she hadn’t yet drawn out her quarry, she had, apparently drawn thousands of onlookers.  She could see crowds gathering everywhere, pointing up in the sky, even faintly cheering.

                She wondered if it would bother Bruce.  After all, public grandstanding was very much out of his line.  With all the fuss he made about operating by his rules in Gotham, perhaps he wouldn’t approve of her flying around like this and attracting attention.  It might fall under the category of “unsuitable help.”

                And yet… she couldn’t really see why.  Batman served as a protector for these people, yes, a warrior, a guardian, but he was a guardian of fear, an avenger of justice.  He didn’t inspire good deeds, he merely punished evil ones.

                Was hope such a bad thing?  Even for Gotham?

                Suddenly, her eyes narrowed at an odd flash of color from an alleyway.  There was a girl… yes, she was dressed in red, and… was that… pink hair?

                Diana swept down in triumph.  At last.  Enough grandstanding.  Time to do real work.

                Atom Smasher crouched low over Stargirl, impassively noting the thud of sidewalk chunks as they bounced off his back.  Whatever was in that glowing orb the kid had aimed at Stargirl, it was a good thing Blue Devil had knocked him off course so it landed on the street instead.  Stargirl put up a good fight, but she was just a kid herself, and really had nothing special outside of the staff she was carrying.  Any one of the blocks falling could easily crack her skull open.

                Cautiously, he stood to his feet, shaking the remaining debris off.  “You okay?” he asked.

                “Sore, but I’m good.”  She grumbled, standing to her feet.  “What’s with that kid?”

                “He is a demon,” hissed the third member of their party, leaping next to them.

                “Look who’s talking.”  Stargirl cocked an eye at Blue Devil, grinning.  “You sure?  He doesn’t look like any of the evil spirits I’ve met.”

                “I know his kind.”

                Failing to see the importance of the question, Atom Smasher shrugged.  “In any case, he’s dangerous.”  He intoned.  “Watchtower, is force authorized?”

                “Affirmative.”  J’onn’s voice informed them from his earpiece.  “Unidentified meta is to be considered hostile.  Reinforcements are en route.  Force is authorized, attempt to contain threat and if possible, neutralize it.”

                “Acknowledged.”  Atom Smasher nodded to the others. 

                With the sound of coughing, their attacker finally came in view.   Blonde hair waved over a pair of curiously yellow eyes (with horizontal irises, no less), and three strange whisker-like scars ran across each side of his face.  He wiped a set of bloodied knuckles on his medical gown and glared at them.

                Stargirl tilted her chin thoughtfully.  “Y’know… he’s kinda cute.”  Her two allies glanced at her.  “What?  I’m just saying…”

                “Nevermind,” interrupted Atom Smasher.  “We’ve got a job to do.  You take to the air and try to get at him from his blind spot.  Me and Blue Devil’ll… Blue Devil!”

                Without waiting for his companion’s order, the incarnate spirit had already dashed at their assailant, pitchfork raised.  Atom Smasher rushed after him, muttering curses.

                The teenager moved with blinding sped and sent Blue Devil flying with a single punch.  Just as quickly he whirled around again to meet the enormous punch being thrown at him from the other.  He stopped the massive fist with one palm, grabbed hold, and tossed the huge superhero into the air, straight at the oncoming Stargirl, who just barely managed to dodge him and move back to a safer range.  The boy, meanwhile, simply shifted back to his original defensive posture.

                “I changed my mind.”  Stargirl remarked as she shot over to a sullen Blue Devil.  “He’s not cute.”

                She received a grunt in response.  “Hrrf.  I told ya already.  He’s a demon.”

                “So?  Who says demons aren’t cute?”

                “I know one that isn’t.”

                Stargirl decided not to ask if he was referring to himself or to the boy in the middle.  “Anyway, wanna attack with the rest of us this time, instead of going solo?  Cause that last round really stunk.”

                “So long as that thing dies, I don’ care.”  He growled.

                “Good… I guess.”  She eyed him momentarily before touching her communicator.  “Hey, Smasher?  Yeah, I know.  Right, together then.  How do you…”

                “He’s running.” Blue Devil interrupted her, pointing after a swiftly disappearing orange figure.

                “Crap!”  Stargirl shot into the air, Blue Devil a step behind her.

                Juugo didn’t know who the strange man in the dark cape was, but he wished he’d stay still for twenty straight seconds.

                After Suigetsu had been in the water for a while and it was pretty clear no one was coming, Sasuke-sama had ordered him down to check on the prisoners and see if any of them had caused the blinking thing on the computer.  Juugo honestly couldn’t say whether any of them had, because just when he’d been about to check up on them, he’d found the man in the dark cape.

                What bothered him was that he’d almost missed him.  He’d been walking along and come to the barricade in front of the boys rooms, and noticed that it was substantially smaller than it’d been before.  The next thing he knew, he’d been hit full in the back by a roundhouse kick that seemed to come from nowhere.

                No mere kick, of course, could keep Juugo down for long, nor the three that immediately followed.   But the last, striking him full in the face, gave him a rather sizeable headache, enough for him to justify triggering the half-transformation.   He’d had enough of this man, it was time to kill him.

                Now if the man would just remain in one place for long enough, he would do just that.  The caped figure had an annoying habit of not being in the place where Juugo’s blows landed, but it was only a matter of time and stamina.  And Juugo had plenty of both.

                “Stop running, damn you!” he roared, sweeping a stack of crates aside in his fury.  His only answer came in the shape of three small pellets that exploded around him.  He frowned in annoyance.  How many of those things did the man have?  Half the hallway had already been destroyed by their battle, and the other half was swiftly following.  Not that it mattered to Juugo, the explosions hurt him little more than a bad Katon  jutsu,  but they were annoying.

                Especially since they made him lose his target.  That was the other annoying thing about the man, half the time he was skulking in the shadows.  In a few moments he’d come flying out of nowhere, clock Juugo across the face, and jump back into the darkness.  Probably throw a few of those annoying pellets.

                Why did he bother?  The man didn’t seem to recognize that he was already dead.  All that remained was for Juugo to get one good grip on him.

                “Come out and fight!”  He shouted at the darkness.  “Coward!  Come out!  I’ll kill ya!  Come out!”

                And then to his surprise, the man did just that.  He dropped out of the darkness directly in front of Juugo and stood to his feet, assuming a fighting stance.   With a grin at the man’s stupidity, Juugo charged at him.

                The man ducked right, then left, then swept under Juugo’s enormous fist and neatly punched him in the chin.  Shrugging it off, Juugo brought up one of his knees, but the man shot back just in time and dropped to the floor to kick at his feet.   Juugo stumbled back a step, recovered himself, and ran forward, but the man suddenly wasn’t there.

                “Wa…?”

                A foot came crashing down from the darkness and planted itself in his face.

                Juugo’s head snapped back with the impact and he felt the floor simply fly away from under his feet.  “D-ddmmmnn… uuu” he gritted through the man’s foot, shortly before his head became reacquainted with the floor.  Through the ringing pain, he reached out with his hands and pushed off from the floor, bringing his fists up in a clumsy attempt to defend himself. 

 He could see the dark form of the man just before him, facing him, his back pushed up against the wall.  Blinking aside the dazzling lights in his eyes, Juugo rushed forward, truly screaming.  Both fists rose and fell with a resounding crash, smashing into the wall—no, door—where the man had been a second ago.

Hearing a heavy fall just behind him, Juugo turned and grinned.  Apparently he had not completely missed, the man was half-fallen on the floor, nursing one of his legs.

About time, he thought through his curse-clouded brain as he strode forward.   “Time to die.”  He hissed, focusing power in his fists.  “No more jumping.”

For the first time his opponent spoke.  “So long as you stay still in front of the door like that,” he said, “I don’t need to.”

The door…

The door.  The door that the prisoners were being kept behind.  The door that he had just smashed open and turned his back to.

The door that a stream of pure blue chakra shot out of and hit him straight in the back.

“Moving about in the daylight is dangerous, Sakura-san.”

                “I’m aware of that, Lee.”  Sakura groused, trying to keep her head down.  “But if we’re gonna find Neji, we need information, and if we need information, we need to blend in more, and if we need to blend in…”  she indicated the store across the street.  “…we need different clothes.”

                Chouji frowned.  “This isn’t just so you can try on new outfits, is it?”

                “For pity’s sake, Chouji, we’re stranded in an unknown territory being pursued by dangerous hostiles, and you think I’m going to be worrying about shopping!?”  Sakura snapped.  “Just how ditzy do you think I am?”

                Avoiding her gaze, Chouji simply mumbled, “Ino does it sometimes…”

                “Ino…  Never mind.  It doesn’t matter.  The point is, we need to…”  She stopped suddenly.  “Lee?  What’s the matter?”  The green-clad chunin had been staring up at the sky a moment ago, now he was suddenly studying the ground, his face bright red.

                “Sakura-san.”  He mumbled.  “Would you mind checking me for any brain injuries?”

                “What?”  Sakura automatically laid her hand on his forehead.  He didn’t seem feverish, though his skin was definitely very warm.

                “Would you mind doing that to me too, Sakura?”  Chouji’s mumble seemed strained somehow. 

                “What’s with you guys?”  Sakura glanced from one to the other.  Both were suddenly staring at the ground, both had bright red faces.  “I checked you both this morning, you’re fine!” 

                “I think I’m going insane.”

                “I also, Sakura-san.”

                “Maybe it’s the heat, or malnutrition, or…”

                “Would you guys just shut up and tell me what is going on!?”  Sakura exploded.

                There was a short pause, and then Lee, face bright red and eyes still fixed on the ground, said hesitantly, “There is a woman… flying toward us… in her underwear.”

                Naruto had to get himself a rod like that.

                He seriously did.  How often did you find a weapon that made you actually fly?  Seriously!  And let you levitate objects?  That was some serious level of awesome.  As far as he was concerned, that completely beat out Kisame’s Samehada sword-thingie.  Not that he’d ever seen that in action, of course, but hey.  Flying.

                In fact, if he hadn’t been trying so hard to escape being swatted by the enormous blocks of concrete she was hurling around, he would’ve stopped to get a good look at the thing, because, face it, you don’t see one of those every day.  As it was, though, he had to deal not only with the girl’s boulders, but also those the one giant was throwing at him.  Even if the boulders didn’t hurt him, they would knock him off balance, and that, with the way the blue-skinned nin was darting in and out at him, was something he could not risk.

                He didn’t get that blue-skinned guy.  First… blue skin?  Second, though he could sense energy pouring off the man, the ninja hadn’t used a single jutsu.  And third, he kept charging in amongst the boulders his own teammates were throwing to try and spear Naruto with the weird pitchfork he was carrying.  Judging from the way the other two yelled at him every time, Naruto felt pretty sure that he wasn’t supposed to be doing that.

                Maybe I pissed this guy off somehow?  But I don’t even know him.  Heck, I can’t even understand him.

                That really bothered him.  Everyone here seemed to be simply jabbering to each other.  That man back in the room could talk, why couldn’t these people?  They seemed to understand each other, but it was all quite beyond Naruto.

                Here came the blue one again.  Naruto dodged a sweep from the trident, whipped around, and kicked the man full in the chest with sage strength. The blow sent the man flying clear across the square and crashing into a building.

                It wouldn’t be enough, though.  It was never enough, that one just kept getting up.  And that kept him from getting the other two, and that kept him from getting out of here before any ninja reinforcements arrived.

                Enough of this. He decided, whipping aside as another boulder crashed to the ground beside him.  Breaking into a run, he headed straight for the flying girl, his fingers following a practiced seal.

                Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

                “Hmph.”  Batman stood to his (suddenly undamaged) legs.  “So much for stealth.  Whoever that last one is, he’s got to know by now that I’m in the tower.”  Shaking his head free of such thoughts, he stepped over the comatose body of his foe and poked his head in the makeshift cell.  “Robin, we need to move.”

                “Duuuude! … is that… I mean, you’re not…  the REAL Batman?”

                The Real Batman frowned at the strange green boy crouched against the opposite wall.  “I take it Robin isn’t in here either, then.”

                “Dude!  THE Batman!”  The shapeshifter seemed oblivious to anything but the famous superhero before him.  “Oh wow, man, this is just incredible!  I mean, you’re like one of the greatest heroes of all time and you’re coming here to rescue us and I’m actually MEETING you and… Cyborg!  Cyborg are you… aw man, he’s out cold.  But… dude… can like… can I like take a picture with you or something?”

                Ignoring the request, Batman knelt and examined the pile of metal sitting next to the boy.  “Energy depletion.”  He muttered.  “Must’ve used the last of it on that blast.  At least he has enough to stay alive while in stasis like this.”

                “Um… Batman sir?”  Apparently Batman’s comments had reminded Beast Boy of the more pertinent emergencies.   “He can only stay in stasis for so long, his batteries…”

“I know.”  Batman cut him him off.  “But you can’t use anything here in the tower, I’ve blown the reactor.”

Beast Boy twitched.  “What?”

“Why do you think the lights went off?”  Batman snorted.  “Here.”  He tossed a flashlight to Beast Boy, who made no move to catch it as it tumbled against the ground.  “Bring him down to the bottom level and hook him to the back-up generator.  Then go to the sub harbor.  My own sub is fried, but you can probably…”  He stopped and glared at the shapeshifter.  “What are you waiting for?  Get moving!”

“I… can’t.”

Batman narrowed his eyes.  “What?”

“I can’t move, Batman sir.”

Frowning, Batman moved to examine the boy.  “You have several bones broken…”  he muttered.  “But you’re a shapeshifter, that shouldn’t…”

“I know it shouldn’t.”  The teenager interrupted.  “I know, but I can’t shift without it hurting for some reason.  I’ve tried to change to a gorilla and an octopus and even a giant spider, but...” he shook his head feebly.  “I can’t.”

                “Did they do something to your powers?”

                “Not that I remember.  The last thing I know, I was fighting that big guy—the one you were fighting out there—and then I woke up here with everything hurting.”

                Batman glanced back at the unconscious figure in the hallway and frowned in thought for a moment.  He tapped his chin thoughtfully.  “Did they handcuff you?”

                Beast Boy blinked.  “Yeah.”

                “Let me see.”  The handcuffs had the same strange markings.  He quickly picked them apart.  “Try now.”

                Beast Boy’s eyes flared in fear, but he closed his eyes and started. Swiftly, hair sprouted from his back, claws from his toes, his legs…

                “AH!”  Suddenly there was nothing but a whimpering green boy there again.  “I’m sorry sir, I really am, but I can’t seem to…”

                “Alright, alright.”  Batman frowned at the cuffs.  There went that theory.  But what were the markings for then?   Shaking his head, he tucked them into a spare pouch on his belt.  He’d have to figure it out later.  Right now he had two teenagers in need of urgent attention.

                “Where’s Robin?”  He asked.

                Beast Boy shrugged.  “That other guy took him out of here sometime ago.  I don’t know where he is.  I think they were going to question him.”

                “Alright.”  Reaching into his utility belt, he brought out two small electronic tabs.  “Hold this.”  He instructed Beast Boy, placing the other on Cyborg’s inert from.  Then he straightened up and touched his ear.  “Batman to Watchtower.”

                “Bats!  Man, where have you been?  We’ve got a developing situation in Metropolis, man, we need you…”

                “I need you to teleport out two passive beacons near my position.”  Batman snapped.  “Teen Titan members, in need of urgent medical care.”

                “Medical…” there was a pause.  “Bats, what’ve you been up to this time…”

                “Just do it.  Batman out.”  Clicking off his communicator, Batman nodded to the astounded shapeshifter.  “That should take care of the two of you.  When they ask, tell them there’s a developing hostage situation here and that they shouldn’t do anything until they hear from me.”

                “Yes sir!”  The awestruck Beast Boy had just enough time to watch Batman vanish into the hallway before a blue light enveloped him.

                Atom Smasher wasn’t stupid.  A lot of people thought he was, but that was only because he was big and strong.  Naturally, they assumed anyone so big and strong must be stupid.

                Well, he wasn’t.  Wasn’t smart either, for that matter, but definitely wasn’t stupid.

                So when he heard a series of poofing noises and saw half a thousand teenagers pop into existence in front of him, he didn’t waste time.  He started punching.  Not because that was all he knew how to do, but because generally, when you found yourself surrounded by attackers, you started punching and worked out the details as you went.

                The fact that he’d seen a whole troop of the clones dragging down Stargirl had only made his decision more justified.

                So far, he’d worked out that that most of the clones were pushovers.  They dissipated at one solid hit into a cloud of vapors.  If he had to theorize, he’d say that the original teenager had some quantum replication ability.  That would explain the instantaneous appearance as well as the obvious structural instability.

                The instability meant that the clones individually posed no threat.  So far, none of them had made any of the glowing orbs the original had made.  The sheer amount of them, however, did make things difficult, as did their incredible speed.

                Still, Atom Smasher wasn’t slow either.  Again, his size made a lot of people think so, but if they’d seen him plowing through the sea of orange bodies, they’d have to swiftly revise that idea.  He might have nearly twenty teenagers clinging to his back and another ten on his feet, but he could sweep the ones in front aside.

                He couldn’t see Stargirl.  He hadn’t been able to see her for a while now, she had been dragged down to the ground a while ago.  That was bad.  Her powers were mostly flight-based, she might not last for long.

                He stumbled a little and angrily shook off five or so new clingers on his ankles.  One of them fell underfoot and exploded in a cloud of dust.

                Where had Blue Devil gone off to?  Probably still back at that building where he’d been thrown.  A lot of smoke was coming from there.  Atom Smasher didn’t understand what’d gotten into his teammate, he’d been fighting like… well, a devil.  Something about their opponent really seemed to bother him.

                He stumbled again and shook his other foot.  Only three came off this time.

                His progress was growing slower.  Bad.  Even if these clones couldn’t finish him off by themselves, the original could easily sneak up on him, especially while he was stationary like this.  He needed more strength.

                With a single thought, he increased his size and mass, rearing up into the sky and shaking off the hitchhikers.  Looming above the square, he glanced about for the original.  Hearing a defiant yell, he turned to face it.

                Atom Smasher noticed two things.  One, his enemy had Stargirl’s cosmic rod and was flying at him.  Two, he had a glowing orb in his right…

                That was about as far as he got before the orb smashed into him and everything went black.

                They didn’t even try to run.  They simply stood there in the deserted lot, facing her impassively as she glided to a landing.

                Well… the girl faced her impassively.  The two boys seemed unable to look directly at her.

                Wonder Woman cleared her throat.  Unlike Batman, she preferred to avoid conflict if possible.  “I am Wonder Woman of the Justice League.  I extend to you the greetings of our dimension, and ask you your name and business in this world.”

                Silence.  The pink-haired girl was eying her with obvious hostility, and the two boys seemed unwilling to do anything until she did.

                Diana tried a different tack.  “I regret to say that we cannot allow you strangers to wander at will in our land.  We must first ascertain your intentions and whether they are friendly.  Please, come with me, or I shall be forced to compel you.”  She smiled gently to take away the sting of the words.

                The pink-haired girl finally spoke.  “Yariman,” she said, disgust evident in every syllable.

                Oh.  That’s right.  Japanese.

                “Raishuimasu!”   Two blurs darted at her, one a huge rolling boulder of flesh, the other a green streak of energy.

                Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Diana dashed at the one and simply threw the enormous teenager over her head.  Whipping around to face the green streak, she brought up her bracelets, blocking the flurry of blows aimed at her.  She deflected bullets with her hands on a daily basis.  Did these teenagers honestly think she couldn’t handle them?

                Reaching out, she caught one green arm in her hand.  She caught the other in her other hand.  Before the boy could bring up his feet, she twisted him in the air and sent him flying.

                Then she turned to face the pink girl.

                Batman hung in the shadows beyond the door, thinking through his battle plan.

                Robin was in this room.  He had to be.  The control room was certainly the most logical place for the intruder’s leader to be, even if he didn’t know how to use the computers.  The homing device he had on Robin’s belt also showed him to be in this room, and though Robin probably wasn’t wearing the belt anymore, the attackers would probably have kept it close by.  That meant that the leader must be in this room, and that Robin must be with him.

                He’d checked the surrounding chambers, just to be sure.  No sense in leaving himself open to attack from the rear, after all.  As he’d expected, they were empty.  According to what he’d heard from the other Titans, the leader was the only one left, and the leader was with Robin.  In this room.

                That didn’t bother Batman.  Neither did the fact that he knew next to nothing about this leader’s abilities, though they had to be substantial.  No.  What bothered Batman was that this highly dangerous, presumably homicidal leader, who by now HAD to be aware that his subordinates had been incapacitated, was in the same room with a presumably helpless Robin.

                It just screamed ‘hostage situation.’

                Batman hated hostage situations, especially when the aggressor involved knew he was around.  And REALLY especially when they involved someone close like Robin.  Unless you made valuable and potentially disastrous concessions to the aggressor, they tended to end badly.  About the only thing you could do was use stealth to your advantage and…

                “I can see you out there, you know,” remarked a cold voice in perfect Japanese.  “You can’t get to the last one without facing me, so come in and get it over with.”

                So much for advantage.  Batman thought grimly.  The two red eyes that glared at him removed any suspicion of bluffing.  He can see in the dark.  It figures.

                Standing erect, Batman strode into the room, long dark cape trailing behind him, and faced the red eyed teenager.

                This thing is a little trickier than I thought.  Naruto eyed the staff contemplatively.  Still.  Awesome.  Can’t wait till I get the hang of it. 

                He’d just about lost it.  Though he’d moved quickly enough to catch the girl by surprise and grab hold of it, she hadn’t given it up without a fight.  And after that, when he’d thought he’d gotten it for good, he’d found out she could call it back to her with a thought.  He’d had to beat her unconscious just to be able to fully use it.

                Still.  It’d been worth it.  He’d taken down that big guy with no problem at all, and now the annoyingly persistent blue-skinned nin lay at his feet, bruised and beaten.  It’d cost him plenty of clones and more than a few cuts from the thing’s trident—that thing really hurt, and Kyuubi didn’t like it for some reason—but he’d finally gotten him to stay down.  After all, with two broken legs, there wasn’t much more the blue skinned nin could do.

                He frowned at his new staff.  I wonder if this thing can fly me back to Konoha.  Granted, he didn’t quite know where he was, but a little scouting should fix that.

                A groan interrupted his thoughts and he whipped around to gaze with disbelief.  The blue skinned guy was getting up AGAIN.  Well, as much as he could.  He had half-raised himself on his arms and was glaring at Naruto with baleful yellow eyes.

                It didn’t make a difference, really.  In that state, the ninja couldn’t even follow him, much less attack.  Naruto shrugged off the glare and prepared to lift off into the sky.

                And then the man spoke, and to Naruto’s amazement he could understand the words.

                “You cannot escape forever, demon.” It growled.  “Wherever you fly to, I will come.  I will find and banish you and all your kind.”

                Wha… how?

                Sixteen years of being shunned by villagers and chased by S-level terrorists had made Naruto rather sensitive about the word ‘demon.’  It had also made him rather hostile to those who hunted them.

                Can’t kill him.  He thought as the chakra formed in his palm to form a shining orb.  But I can’t leave him able to follow me either.   Only thing to do is…

                His thoughts were cut off as a blue blur shot out of nowhere and knocked him off his feet.  Astounded, he turned to face his new attacker.

                Long black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.   Strange metal bracelets and tall red boots.  Odd gold shining lasso.  Blue underwear, red and white corset. 

                Sakura snorted as she eyed the woman in front of her.  What a bimbo.  No armor, no supply packets, not even a place to conceal…well, anything.  So far, the only thing she had going for her was speed and power.  Sakura had plenty of those.

                “And just who might you be?”  She asked.  The woman replied in a long string of jargon, but Sakura caught two words that seemed to be her answer.

                “Wonder Woman.”

                Across the darkened room, Sasuke smirked at the caped man.  Impressive, really.  From the sounds down there, this Juugo had been taken down by this man.  And given that Suigetsu wasn’t responding to the radio, Sasuke felt pretty sure he’d met the same fate.   This man had power, no doubt about it.  Even when Sasuke had called him out on his hiding spot, he hadn’t flinched, just walked forward into the room.

                Yet for all his strength, the man had one crucial weakness.  He had too many bonds.  Though Sasuke didn’t understand why, he knew the man was here for the unconscious teenager in the corner.  As long as the boy was in Sasuke’s hands, this man had no choice but to fight him.

                Beautiful.  Perhaps this man might even pose a challenge.

                “Well.”  He smirked, slowly drawing Kusanagi.  “And who might you be?”

                The man bent into a fighting posture.  “I’m Batman.”

                Naruto got up, coughing and shaking his head clear of the pain.  Where had THAT come from?  One second his sage mode just had a glimmer of movement five miles away, and the next second a fist was crashing into his face.  And… it hurt!  Even at sage-level invincibility, it hurt!

                Grimacing, he stood to his feet and faced his opponent.  Red cape, tight blue spandex, red boots, red underwear.  Naruto would have felt inclined to laugh, if he hadn’t seen the man’s face.

                The man was enraged.  Pure, white fury burned at Naruto from his face, and the ninja could almost swear his eyes were glowing.  His mouth, set in a thin line, bared back to show glinting teeth.  Fists balled in shaking rage as the man began to hover above the ground.

                Hover?  Oh NO.

                “Who are you?”  Naruto whispered, half in reflex.  To his astonishment, the blue creature from the ground answered.

                “Superman.”  It whispered in awe, staring at the figure.

                Naruto swallowed, set himself in position, and brought up his staff in readiness.  Something told him this wasn’t going to be easy.

Chapter Text

“Look, White, I’m in the city right now! I can practically see… well okay, I can only see the smoke from the impact, but I’ve gotta be closer than anyone else right now! Lemme do this!”

Hinata didn’t know exactly what the strange device in the woman’s hand was, but she felt pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to be talking on it while driving. At least, not driving the way the woman was. Since the second they’d seen the flying shape and the explosion, the woman had suddenly gunned the car,weaving in and out of traffic in a truly breathtaking fashion that made Hinata clutch the side of her seat.

“White, please. You know I can do these sort of stories better than ANYONE.” A slight pause. “So? That just means I get the better inside story! Besides, the readers know... White? Perry, you still there?” The woman glanced at the strange device and frowned.

“Hello? Boss? I… Oh there you are. What…” The squawking sound from the cell phone cut her off. “What!? Superman? Okay, I am SO there, White. No, I don’t care. Look, boss, you can send your own man in if you want to, but I’m going anyway.”

“Fine. Okay then.” The lady clicked her cell phone shut and returned her attention to darting in and out of traffic. “Right.” She muttered, apparently deep in thought. “White said they were in the town square, so the fastest…”

“Ummm… Lois-san? What’s going on?”

“What?” The woman jerked in surprise and stared at her for a moment. “Oh! Man, kid, you’re so darn quiet I forgot you were there.” She passed a hand through her hair. “Nothing much. Super-brawl downtown. Happens a lot. Still, it means a story, and with us this close it might just be MY story.” Lois licked her lips and got an almost predatory look on her face. “Front page. With SUPERMAN. I tell you, kiddo…”

“So… we’re going down to see it?” Hinata wasn’t quite sure she liked the sound of that.

The lady glanced over at her and for a moment her eyes widened in comprehension. “Damn. Forgot about that. I don’t suppose you’d mind going to see it?”

“W-well…” Though she’d been in plenty of dangerous situations—she’d nearly died several times—Hinata didn’t really enjoy seeking out danger. Still, if it meant so much to Lois-san…

“No.” Lois cut her off before she could reply. “No, that’d just be stupid. It’d be one thing if you were a reporter or something, but a kid like you… No.”

“I-I could do it, Lois-san. If you really want t-to, we could…”

“Forget it. I’ve got a better idea.” Lois wrenched the steering wheel, sending the small car whizzing between two trucks over to the side of the road. “Here,” she said, reaching over and unbuckling Hinata’s seatbelt. “Tell you what. There’s a park over…” she gestured vaguely. “…over that way. Ketler Park. Just go over there and wait by the bench. I’ll be back to pick you up.” She tossed a smooth, glittering object at Hinata, who caught it almost automatically before recognizing it as the strange device from before. “If you run into problems, call me on my cell phone.”

Hinata stared at her. “B-but… but…”

“No buts! C’mon, shoo, we’re on a timetable here!” The woman nearly pushed Hinata out the door. “Now just stay in the park and don’t wander to far, okay? I’ll be back! Bye!”

And with that, the car shot off into the traffic, leaving behind a hopelessly bewildered Hyuuga.

How does he do that?

If he weren’t so busy fighting, Naruto would have simply been dumbfounded by the jutsus at his opponent’s disposal. Invincibility? Super strength? Lasers from his eyes? Flying, for Kami’s sake?

Even more incredible was the fact that the man seemed to be doing it completely without the use of any chakra. Naruto couldn’t sense a bit of it in the area, outside of the amount coming from the crumpled blue-skinned one. And he didn’t have any kind of special weapon, like Kisame or that one girl had had. As far as Naruto could tell, the man was absolutely normal.

So how was he doing it?

A relative of Lee’s? The man was wearing blue spandex, after all. AND red underwear, which was something even Gai didn’t have the audacity to do. Lee could JUST about fly, with his speed and strength and everything. But this guy was… hovering. Not just shooting about like what Lee did, he simply floated above the ground. So how…

A pair of red beams burning a hole in his jacket cut off his thoughts. Again, the beams didn’t hurt, but they were annoying and they were ruining the jacket. HIS jacket. Putting some energy into the rod, he shot forward, aiming a rasengan straight at his opponent.

A blur of motion and the man was gone. The rasengan smashed into the street, creating yet another crater amongst the thousands already marking the square. Following sage mode instinct, Naruto darted to the left, narrowly avoiding a massive blow from behind as his attacker smashed into the street, creating a crater to rival Naruto’s.

How does he do that?

“You have one chance to surrender,” the dark-caped man—Batman, Sasuke reminded himself—said flatly.

The audacity of the man. Him, the last Uchiha, surrender? To a chakra-less mercenary without even a decent name? ‘Bat-man’ indeed. Sasuke could discern absolutely nothing threatening in the man, except perhaps the obviously experienced way he carried himself.

Yet that in itself was a warning. Even if the man didn’t seem dangerous, the fact that he’d taken out Suigetsu and Juugo meant that he was, and that Sasuke ought to respect him as such.

Proper respect had never been a big part of Sasuke’s life.

Without even deigning to answer, he darted forward at the man, sword upraised, sharingan activated.

The thing that really annoyed Sasuke about the Sharingan was that, on the off chance you faced an incredibly skilled opponent, you could SEE yourself about to get hit and you wouldn’t be able to do a single thing about it. Oh sure, you could maybe roll with the punch a little, harden your muscles or whatever… but the point stood—the Sharingan allowed you to see yourself get humiliated in slow-motion.

Two minutes into their fight, Sasuke had already seen it fourteen times. From different angles, in different ways, with different amounts ofperception. Some he didn’t even see—he felt the blow come out of nowhere and jerked around just in time to avoid the follow-up. Kusanagi had gone flying away somewhere early in the fight, and though Sasuke knew where it was, he could not make the time to get over to it. Indeed, it was all he could do just to keep up with the flurry of blows coming at him. Sasuke did his best to copy the moves, but… they were so completely unpredictable! The attacks seemed to come from all kinds of styles, orientations, and philosophies. Sasuke could not see how the man managed to link them together.

Well, he could still do one thing the man could not. His fingers moved in a frenzy, he blew, and a fireball burst from his mouth.

The man’s eyes widened, he threw something to the floor, and smoke erupted, obliterating Sasuke’s attack in moments.

Sasuke stared. How… what had just happened? How had that man managed to defuse one of his fire jutsus?

The man seemed to be eying him also. “Tell me.” He said. “Aren’t you from Konoha?”

Something inside Sasuke turned cold. How did this man know of Konoha? They were in a different world, weren’t they?

“Not anymore.” He replied, dashing forward.

Sakura was really, really annoyed with this lady. Not only did she dress like some kind of night hawk, she seemed incapable of saying anything intelligible. A continual flow of gibberish came flowing from her mouth.

Of course, the fact that she was fast, strong, beautiful, and could fly kinda annoyed Sakura too, particularly at the moment as she was lying in a heap of concrete at the far end of the parking lot. Fortunately Lee, who had gotten back up, was keeping said annoying woman occupied with his Konoha senpuu. The woman had some impressive blocking skills, but she still had difficulty keeping up with Lee’s flurry of blows.

Ignoring the pain, Sakura pushed herself out of the rubble and to her feet. She would be the first to admit that she wasn’t the greatest fighter in the world. Naruto and Sasuke had always left her far behind in terms of power, and even Lee was, in many respects, a better fighter than her.

But Sakura WAS a better thinker than nearly any other rookie.

Since last night, Sakura and her team had been focused on retrieving Neji. They had decided sometime this morning that to do that, they had to get the man who’d caught him. And, under Sakura’s direction, they had spent most of the morning turning this parking lot into one giant trap for that express purpose.

This woman had been doomed the second she touched foot in here.

“Get back.” Sakura ordered Lee. “She’s mine.”

In any fight, Superman reminded himself, he needed to stay in control. When you have near-infinite power at your disposal, you can’t go all out on just anyone. You need to work carefully, work up to your opponent’s pain threshold, so you can make sure you don’t accidently crush his skull or something.

At the moment, however, that control was hard to keep. Not only had this new meta badly mangled a League member, not only had he stolen another’s weapon, he also seemed to be largely impervious to most of Superman’s blows. Clark was trying to gradually increase the power, but it was incredibly tempting to just give the blonde teenager one solid hit and knock him down for good.

Heat vision had no effect. He’d tried ice breath, but the boy had dodged it. As a matter of fact, the boy had an uncanny ability to sense attacks coming from any angle. He seemed hyper-aware of his surroundings and constantly evaded projectiles and punches alike. Only by using his super-speed could Superman manage to land any hits.

Like just now. Superman’s mighty fist grazed the boy’s chin, with nearly an eighth of his full power behind it.

The teen went flying, but Superman cursed under his breath. When his fist had connected, he’d felt the blonde rolling with that punch. The meta may not have been able to stop it, but he’d still kept Superman from any kind of solid blow.

Regardless, it did relieve the tension somewhat to watch the orange shape go crashing into the building. Plumes of dust exploded from the building as the figure crashed through floor after floor, until finally the bottom erupted and the whole building toppled slowly to the ground.

It’s a good thing they cleared out this sector after the impact. Superman mused. He narrowed his eyes as he saw a coughing figure emerge from the rubble. At the rate this guy’s going, we may need more buildings.

“You’ve done enough!” He called to the teenager sternly. “Stand down!”
The teenager cocked his head. “Nani? Nani o hanasimasu?”

Superman blinked. A different language? Where had this boy come from?

Before he could complete the thought the boy shrugged. “Ja ne.” He dashed forward, a glowing orb in his palm.

Quickly shaking out of his reverie, Superman shot a hundred yards away and touched his earpiece. “Terrific.” He said. “See if you can figure out what he’s saying and get a translator out here.”

“No need.” Came the reply. “I know that language. It’s…”

Out of the corner of his eye, Superman caught sight of the teenager breaking into a run, heading for the outskirts. “Superman out!” he roared, clicking the device off as he flew after the blonde. They couldn’t have him leaving the area! More people were outside this area, they needed to contain the damage! Superman shot ahead of the boy and brought himself back to charge…

Straight into a massive glowing orb.

So far, Batman considered, things were going well. This kidnapper apparently had no interest in using Robin to coerce him. He seemed satisfied with merely trying Batman’s ability against his own.

Batman could respect that. In fact, he could respect a lot about this boy. He was obviously a capable fighter in his own right and had lightning-fast reflexes. Not only that, but he had access to a wide range of powers which he used judiciously and rapidly.

One thing that he could not respect, though, was the boy’s nature. Everything about this teenager practically radiated killer. He shot deadly fireballs and lightning attacks at Batman with ruthless efficiency, and more than once tried to send his sparking sword slicing through Batman’s chest. His eyes were cold and unfeeling.

And those eyes… they were dangerous. Batman had a feeling they could do more than just see in the dark.

Altogether, this boy had perhaps the worst combination of faults and virtues. He was a flawless fighter, a powerful meta, and an unhesitating killer. Batman had managed to stay ahead of his attacks for the moment, but just barely, and eventually fatigue would take its toll.

Exploding pellets seem to disorient him, but not for long. He noted. Smoke pellets do seem to affect his vision, so distraction possible. Disables most of my standard weaponry—Batarangs, pellets—fairly easily, must have had practice. Most likely from battling Robin. Strong in hand-to-hand and long-distance techniques alike.

He bit his lip and considered as he dodged under a sudden burst of flames. Long-distance attack my weak point. However, hand-to-hand puts me in dangerous range of his meta abilities. Need to take down quickly. Best accomplished by combination of stealth and disorientation.

His plan devised, Batman reached into his belt, leaping away as lightning coursed beneath him, and threw a handful of pellets at his opponent. Unsurprisingly, the teenager leapt away, failing to recognize that the pellets were not armed.

Then again, how could he? Batman considered, tossing his REAL salvo at the in-mid-jump teenager.

Smoke erupted around the room, dense, clinging smoke. Batman threw himself into a roll, scooping up the unarmed explosive pellets he had thrown earlier. Two went whistling into the cloud of smoke.

Two explosions and a muffled curse. Batman dashed into the smoke. He’d missed the teenager, but now he knew where he was. The boy’s heat signature glowed red in the eyes of his cowl.

A quick swing, and his fist met flesh and bone.

Position confirmed. Batman flew into a flurry of kicks and punches. I have to take him down now, follow up on my advantage. Mercilessly his fists flew, following the boy’s every movement. He didn’t have long, already he could hear the clicks of the sprinkler system, activated by the smoke from his grenades. Water will dissipate smoke, making stealth substantially more difficult.

Out of time! Batman dropped to the floor and whirled around. Take him out… NOW! His arm shot forward in a powerful blow aimed at where he knew the teen’s head must be.

Solid bone met his knuckles. Solid bone, burning with fire.

“Great Hera!” Wonder Woman swiftly jumped away from an array of metal pipes that came crashing to the ground. Where did those come from?

“RRRRAAAAAH!”

Biting the thought off, she turned to face the pink-haired fury flying at her. The girl wasn’t as fast as the green one, but she hit much harder. Diana whipped away from her sweeping blow and whirled around in a full roundhouse kick. It caught the teenager in the stomach and sent her flying. But why was she smiling?

Something slammed into Diana’s back, knocking her over. She braced for the fall, recovered from it, and shot back up. A steel beam, she noted distantly. On a cable. The girl must have set it free by slicing a wire of some kind. But how…

A sudden flash of green caught her eye and she whirled around just in time to block a flurry of kicks from the very intense-looking one.

This kid... was something like dodging bullets. Except at point-blank range. She didn’t get it, this kid had been challenging in the first few minutes, but not seriously dangerous. Then he’d suddenly taken something off his legs and now… Great Hera, where did he get that SPEED from? If he didn’t fight in such an obviously linear fashion, she’d never have been able to keep up.

Suddenly she saw the other one… the kid in armor, heading toward her. As if by plan, the green blur moved to the side, letting the other one aim a punch at her.
Diana smiled. This teenager was much slower, and the green blur was now confined to one line of attack. Almost lazily she brought up her hand to block the boy’s fist.

And then suddenly, the fist grew nearly three times as huge and plowed into her.

Something was going on, Neji decided. About half-an-hour ago the entire building had shaken, and whatever attendants there were had left the room immediately. Since then, only a few people had dashed in and out, mostly to check their vital signs and then dash out again.

Neji could sense other things too. Their room muffled sounds from the outside—a genjutsu, doubtless—but even so he could hear people running around and shouting.

Frowning, Neji considered. He didn’t want to use his Byakugan here… it was too likely to be noticed and harvested. He’d only used it once before, to ascertain their surroundings, and he felt even that had been unwise. After all, regardless of the fact that his eyes were sealed and therefore useless for transplantation, the captors would doubtless still rather have an eyeless Hyuuga than a seeing one, however sealed.

There didn’t seem to be any guards in the prison now, but Neji suspected they were still being watched—in fact, he would have thought much less of their captors if they weren’t. He didn’t want to risk it and yet… if something WAS going on, like an attack, they ought to be aware and ready to help.

Sighing, Neji leant as far forward as he could and looked over. Sai, the only one who still seemed to be aware, glanced back.

Neither spoke by common understanding, but Sai arched his eyebrows suggestively.

Neji nodded and closed his eyes, making the seal with one hand. Byakugan!

A simple look confirmed his initial belief—yes, something was going on, everyone in the building was running around and doing things—but it also told him something VERY unexpected.

Neji glanced over at Sai. “Naruto’s here.”

Yes! Naruto just barely refrained from doing a victory dance as he saw red-cape go flying across the square. It worked! A lucky guess, maybe, but it’d still worked. He’d noticed the guy had a strange propensity for head-on attacks, and guessed that if he was going to try and stop him, he’d pop up directly in front of him.

Boy had that paid off.

A fun trick, but too lucky to work more than once. This guy would be back up in a second, and Naruto’d be out of tricks. He needed to finish the guy off while he was down. Gathering chakra into his hand in a giant rasengan, Naruto rushed at the man’s fallen figure. One hit to the head should be all it would take. If he could just get there before the man got up…

A wall of glowing green energy came out of nowhere, slamming into him.

Panting, Sasuke clutched at one eye while using the other to track the dark figure as it leapt back. Despite the pain, Sasuke allowed himself a dark grin. Finally. His malfunctioning Sharingan still annoyed him incredibly, but so long as his core abilities functioned, he could work around that. This man had unprecedented taijutsu skills and a wide array of bizarre weaponry, but before Sasuke’s power he was nothing.

A fresh wave of pain tore through him and he gasped, digging his fingers deeper into the skin. Only a partial Susanoo, and still it hurt this bad?

“Looks like that ability of yours has its drawbacks.”

Glancing up, Sasuke bit back a curse. How on earth had he… but of course, the flames had only caught on the man’s glove, and anyone could shake off a glove. The man’s knuckles looked somewhat singed, but outside of that he seemed fairly unperturbed as he circled Sasuke. The shower from above made a small mist rise on his cape. “From the amount of pain it seems to be giving you, I’d guess you can’t keep it up forever.”

“I don’t need to.” Sasuke growled as he allowed the shield to subside. The water was dripping all around him, too, but he ignored it. “It was just to give me some breathing room, not for me to hide behind. I can defeat you without even calling on my full powers.”

The man did not react. “Interesting fire…” he mused. “Burns straight through asbestos, and the water isn’t affecting it…”

“They are the black flames of Amaterasu,” grinned Sasuke, giving his head a little toss, shaking off a few drops. “They are inextinguishable and all-consuming.”

“Hm.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He did not feel the man was treating his power with the proper respect.

Before he could address the issue, however, the man had rushed forward and was again attacking. After the past few minutes of fighting, however, Sasuke had gotten better used to the man’s rhythm, and was even starting to pick up on some of the moves.

“A quick learner, I see,” commented the man as Sasuke blocked a kick with one of his own moves. He leapt into the air, spun over Sasuke’s head, and planted a kick squarely in his back. “Not quick enough, though.”

Grunting, Sasuke heaved himself to his feet, fingers already flying in a series of seals. Apparently the man had learned what that meant, as he was already dancing away. “Katon: Gokyuu no Jutsu!” The fireball exploded from his mouth, searing its way toward the man, who suddenly stopped and smirked.

The fireball fizzled to nothing but steam before it’d crossed half the distance to the caped figure.

What? Sasuke tried not to gape, but it was hard. How had that failed?

“Water sprinklers,” stated the man on the other side, pointing up at the ceiling as if Sasuke hadn’t noticed the before. “Makes things difficult for your little fire-breathing trick, doesn’t it?”

Ridiculous.  Sasuke had fought in the midst of thunderstorms before.  This anemic dribble should have been nothing.

“Probably makes it difficult to use that electricity thing of yours without shocking yourself either,” continued the man, unconscious of Sasuke’s confusion. “As a matter of fact, the only ability of yours that I imagine still has much effect while these things are on are those black flames of yours.”

Sasuke growled and looked up, preparing to show the man exactly how potent those flames could be.

“Like this one.” He registered the black, burning glove speeding toward his face moments before it slapped full on and set his skin afire.

Oh, come ON! Sakura’s inner thought raged as the woman pushed Chouji’s fist off of her. We so totally had her with that one! Is she invincible or something?

Apparently so, she decided, as their attacker shot at Chouji and punched him across the parking lot. For a second there, when Chouji’s fist had flattened the woman into the pavement, Sakura had gotten hopeful. Now, it was readily apparent that the attack had only surprised, not damaged her.

No worries. They still had plenty of traps left, and she and Lee still could match this lady. Sakura was nearly as strong as her, and Lee, without his weights, seemed to be just a trifle faster.

So really, skill wise, they were about equal.

Except, of course, that the lady could fly. Sakura was reminded of this fact as she shot away from Lee up into the sky, before dashing back down again in a vain attempt to catch Lee off his footing.

Flying. How was she doing that?

That one Pain body could fly. Sakura considered. Through gravity repulsion. Is that how she’s doing it? But she hasn’t been using any gravity-like abilities. Maybe sheer jumping power? But no, she hovers and circles and floats. She hasn’t been making any seals, so… but wait, no one has chakra here.

Sakura hated fighting enemies she knew nothing about. Fighting enemies in a completely different world with a completely different set of rules REALLY stank. If this lady had just been an out-and-out mercenary, like that man they’d met earlier, things would have been fairly straightforward. But no, they had to run into a flying lady who dressed like some kind of dancing girl.  Lee didn't seem as focused as usual, and Sakura had a pretty good idea why.

Sakura huffed, studying the two battling it out in the square. Yup, definitely not as accurate as normal. She should run down there to help, she knew, the second that woman managed to land a hit, Lee would end up clear on the other side of the parking lot. But Chouji’s attack had shown her that they weren’t going to get anywhere with this woman unless they thought out some kind of battle plan.

She’s invincible, strong, fast, and flies. Sakura idly tossed out a few kunai, setting off some traps to give Lee a chance to back out. We can’t run, we can’t hide, we need to beat her, or we’ll never get back Neji. Yet with the amount of damage she can take… That’s going to take a while. And Lee can’t keep this up forever, any more than I can.

With a final weary shrug, Sakura jumped back down to the parking lot. Guess we’ll just have to wing it.

“Geez man, he pounded you a new one. Magic?”

“Maybe.” Superman picked himself from the rubble. “But it felt… different. In either case, that kid’s incredibly strong.” Glancing up at the new arrival, he added, “Thanks for the save, GL.”

“No problem.” Green Lantern shrugged, keeping his eyes on the green bubble of energy in the square and the raging blonde inside it. “J’onn contacted me about the situation, said he thought you might need some help.”

“It’s definitely welcome. You’re a lot better at this containment stuff than I am.”

Smiling, Green Lanterrn waved off the praise. “It’s a lot easier when you’ve got one of these rings. That kid can pound the walls all he wants, but it’s gonna take a lot more than that to get out of there.” He glanced over at Superman. “So… now that we got him, what do we do with him?”

“Get him out of the city, first off.” Superman wiped blood from his lip. "Find a cell to keep him in, maybe one on the space tower. We’ll need a translator too, he was speaking some other kinda…”

Green Lantern interrupted him. “What the… what’s that kid up to now?”

Superman blinked. Where there had only been one kid in the green bubble before, now there were suddenly three.

“He can make copies of himself?”

“That’s right. I remember hearing about that on my way over.” Green Lantern frowned thoughtfully. “They said he made a couple thousand against Blue Devil and the others. So why’s he making just…”

He stopped suddenly, and both heroes gazed in wonder as a swirling inferno of blue light filled the bubble.

“What the…”

The central figure in the bubble slammed the enormous swirling mass of energy into the bubble at point-blank range. The green wall of energy was ripped apart and Superman just barely had enough time to grab Green Lantern and whip over backwards before it hit them.

It was like getting hit by a wall of wind. Or rather, a knife of wind. Or, actually, it was most like getting hit by a wall of knifes made out of wind. In any case, it hurt. Superman barely registered that he was flying backwards and didn’t even feel the building as he smashed into it. He just felt the knives of wind, ripping into him.

He felt them. He felt pain.

Finally the pain stopped, and he became aware that he was lying in a heap of rubble, Green Lantern just beneath him. Quickly he got up and helped his friend to his feet. “You okay?” He said, glancing over at the square. The kid seemed pretty exhausted himself, he was half-keeled over.

“Been better.” Lantern grunted, heaving upright. Arching an eyebrow at Superman, he added, “What about you? Looks like you had a number done on you.”

Superman glanced backwards to behold a completely shredded cape Some blood was even seeping through the cuts on his back. Barely a scratch, but on Superman… that scratch spoke volumes.

“If he’d done that outside the bubble…”

“Devastation. Total.” Superman nodded. “He might take out a tenth of Metropolis.”

Suddenly Mr. Terrific’s voice came over the com-links. “Superman, you’re fighting one of the dimensional visitors down there.”

“You’re sure? It could just be a coincidence. There’re a few nuclear facilities around here… maybe an accident of some kind…”

“Supes, he’s speaking Japanese.” The voice carried just a touch of dry humor.

“Seems a bit outside of the power level Batman told us.” Green Lantern frowned. “Superhuman strength he mentioned, but he didn’t say anything about throwing around giant balls of energy or multiplying bodies.”

Superman glanced at him and nodded. “Could be the fugitive they were fighting,” he agreed. “Best call in all other available leaguers on our position, Terrific. We might be in for a bad fight. And try to contact Batman again. Where on earth is he?”

“No idea.”

I have no idea how this boy’s powers work. Batman realized as he watched the black flames dissolve from the boy’s face. He can generate and control flame, including a certain black variety that can’t be extinguished, save by himself. Apparently he can also generate electricity. If powers are consistent, he should also be able to control it.

Also, he reminded himself, as the boy rushed at him with an irritated growl, he has excellent hand-to-hand combat abilities.

Very well. So those were the powers he knew. But he didn’t know how those powers related to each other. Superpowers usually followed some kind of internal logic, like a being that controlled fire also controlling ice, or needing to draw on some kind of external energy. Figuring out this logic could be key to incapacitating an opponent and defeating him.

Batman narrowed his eyes in concentration as he continued to block the boy’s flurry of attacks. For the life of him, he could not think of any tangible link between fire and electricity. His opponent obviously wasn’t drawing it from the surroundings—though it was probably a good thing the generators were out and no longer feeding energy into this room—so where was it coming from?

More importantly, where did that strange skeletal armor fit into the picture? The black flames had come from it—was it perhaps some kind of generator?

In any case, even if he didn’t understand the exact details of how the fighting mechanic worked, he’d already observed some aspects of its requirements. The teenager was continually making little motions with his fingers, movements that seemed to correspond with his fire attacks. Chances were good that if he could somehow immobilize the boy’s hands, the attacks would no longer be viable.

That fit with the boy’s fighting style. He only used the meta powers at long distance, when his hands were not continually occupied with blocking Batman’s attacks.

So. How to disable those hands? He could try cutting them off, but that seemed extreme. He could break the wrists, but from the endurance of this teenager, he couldn’t be certain how practical that would be. He could perhaps handcuff…

Handcuff…

Even if Batman didn’t know what was special about the handcuffs that had been used on the Titans, he knew that these intruders had considered them important. He had two pairs of them, one from Beast Boy, and the other from Raven.

They were over by the railing now. Perfect. One hand darted down to his utility belt, drawing out the strange handcuffs. Already the boy had taken advantage of the opening and managed to rain a few hefty hits on his ribs. His hand was even beginning to glow strangely as Batman clacked the set of handcuffs over it.

Instantly, the hand ceased to glow, and the teenager glanced down at it in shock. Batman used the opportunity to fasten the cuff to the railing, effectively tethering the boy to it. As if realizing the plan, the teen’s hand immediately flashed out in an attempt to shatter the binding, but Batman grabbed the hand and clapped it in the other pair of handcuffs before wrestling it to the railing also. The teenager’s arms were now spread wide across the railing.

Jumping away from the boy’s lashing feet, Batman allowed himself a grim smile of satisfaction. Difficult, but not impossible. With the other two he’d taken downstairs and the four back at the tower, that accounted for seven of their twelve dimensional visitors.

Ignoring the boy’s glare of hatred, Batman turned to check on Robin…

Pain erupted across his back.

Diana was really getting tired of all the traps around this parking lot. Had these warriors no honor? Couldn’t they just fight her honestly, face to face?

Every moment, it seemed, there was some beam flying at her head or some salvo of daggers shooting at her. There had even been a few pit traps which Diana didn’t know HOW they hid.
She felt pretty sure that the pink-haired girl had some kind of control over the traps, their attacks roughly corresponded to the times she threw daggers off to the side. Most of the time she hung back while the green one kept her occupied, apparently triggering traps whenever she saw a good opportunity.

However, the fact that she no longer seemed to have that option hinted that the duo must be running out of traps. She and the green one seemed to be tag-teaming her, which, while a formidable combination, was at least refreshingly straightforward.

The pink-haired girl was screaming again. What was it about this time?

Whatever it was, the green boy backed out suddenly. Diana smiled grimly. That made things considerably easier, now that the more formidable warrior was apparently sitting out. The girl was strong, but not much more. Against a trained Amazon princess, she was nothing.

At least, that’s what she thought until the NEW traps started kicking in.

Flying rocks. Falling steel beams. Pit traps. Nets. All while the girl was pounding away as hard as she could, perfectly aware of the traps that Diana could only guess at.
It was an impressive collection and really quite diabolical, but all it really served to do was stretch things out a bit longer than Diana had expected. She still had her strength and lightning-fast reflexes, and when the girl did get lucky enough to squeeze in a punch, her invulnerability kept it from being a serious problem.

The traps only kept her too busy to hit back. And the second they slowed down, she lashed out with all the frustration that’d been building through the whole fight.

The girl went flying across the parking lot. Unwilling to let her go just yet, Diana flew after her, putting in a few more hits for good measure. After all she’d been through with this girl, she was going to make certain she stayed down.

The girl’s face plowed into the pavement, leaving a shallow ditch in its wake. Her body tumbled over once, twice, than finally ground to a halt. With a groan, the girl slumped to the pavement.

Sighing, Diana stepped forward, only to observe something curious. A small smile was curving across the girl’s face.

“YOSH!”

Turning, Diana had room for only one thought before the leg plowed into her midsection.

When did his skin turn red like that?

Shikamaru was just about ready to explode with frustration. He was certain, nearly absolutely certain, that Naurto had broken loose some moments ago. After all, there could be only so many things causing all the explosions and alarms he’d been hearing. The fact that hundreds of guards had streamed into his room as soon as the ruckus began showed that it was definitely connected to him in some way. The sounds had been approaching his position too, which made only increased the chances of it being Naruto.

And then too, there were the roars. Not many people—or things—he knew roared like THAT.

But if Naruto’d broken out, if he’d caused such chaos, and if he’d gotten so CLOSE, where was he now? Had he been captured again? Impossible. Shikamaru had seen himself how hard it was to keep Naruto down. Had he been beaten? Equally impossible. However confident the bald man had been, he found it hard to believe that people with no understanding of chakra would be capable of defeating a Kage level nin, however inventive they were.

Plus, if Naruto had been beaten OR captured, why was there still such a great commotion going on outside? Even through the walls, he could hear people rushing about, shouting, and moving things. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that even though the explosions had stopped, things were far from settled.
Had he just left, abandoning them?

Absolutely impossible.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as he thought back. The sounds of fighting had been getting really close, and he’d been able to practically see the fear in the guards. Even he had gotten ready, preparing to leap into action the second he was free.

And then… there’d been a really deafening crash, and everyone had winced. The ground had shook, the rumble had faded into the distance, and after that… silence.

Looking over things, there was only one possible option. Naruto had been forced away by an incredibly powerful opponent, and the base was rushing to take care of things before he returned. They were either mobilizing or preparing to move. In any case, he and the others would doubtless be of primary importance.

As if in confirmation of this theory, the door burst open and two men rushed in with a gurney. Shikamaru took in the straps and gas tanks and immediately realized what they had in mind.

Babbling something incoherent, the man placed a mask over Shikamaru’s mouth.

I have GOT to get one of those.

Seriously, a ring? That made you fly, lift things, protected you, and… well, it looked like it could do just about ANYTHING. Seriously. It made his fancy rod, which he’d been so proud of a minute ago, look like a piece of outdated junk.

Of course, it was green. That seriously lessened its awesome factor. If it’d been ORANGE, well, that would be something else. Green… well, green was stuff that weird people like Lee wore.
Come to think of it, Lee would really like this guy. Green spandex, green glow… even green chakra. Sure, he was a Kumo nin, but they weren’t all bad.

Naruto frowned a moment as something occurred to him. Even if this guy’s powers came largely from his ring, that was pretty obviously chakra that was being shot at him. So why on earth couldn’t he sense it? Was there something wrong with his sage ability? It’d taken him so long to get it attuned—maybe it wasn’t completely functional.

A sudden movement from three miles away behind his back cut the thought off and he dodged left just in time to avoid another rush from red-cape man. Or well, partially avoid. Flying in mid-air, like he was now, gave him more options for dodging, but he still couldn’t escape the man’s sheer speed. At least the invulnerability part of his sage mode was still in full swing.

Still… if he couldn’t tell which one was me, he couldn’t do that speed attack thing, now could he?

Quickly he formed another Rasengan in his palm and aimed it at the incoming red-caped attacker, who saw it and swept away just in time. Naruto didn’t even stop to sigh in relief, instead weaving his fingers in seals even as the chakra in his palm dissipated away. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

Immediately the air was full of thousands of Naruto’s, each holding one of the awesome rods.

Naruto grinned at the looks of consternation on his opponents’ faces. I am a genius!

Then he realized something. HE had the REAL rod, so he could still fly. All his copies had only… well, copies. So they couldn’t.

Naruto looked around just in time to see two thousand Narutos fall to the earth and disappear in a huge cloud of smoke.

He looked back again just in time to see a large fist aimed at his head.

Sasuke cursed inwardly as the man whipped the burning cape from his shoulders and hurled it at him. He’d hoped to catch the man off guard and get the fire to eat through the cape, but his opponent was simply too fast for that sort of thing to work.

As the cape hit him, he defused the flames with his Sharingan, except for the portions needed to eat through the handcuffs. A quick jerk and he was free, once again facing his opponent.

Astonishing, Sasuke reflected, on the difference one’s uniform could make. With the cape, this man had seemed formidable and imposing. Without it, he was simply a man dressed up in gray spandex wearing a large overcomplicated belt. In some ways, he looked almost laughable.

But that would be a mistake. Because as Sasuke could say with complete authority now, this man WAS formidable, cape or no cape. And even without the cowl masking his features, the coldness of his gaze reminded Sasuke what an efficient warrior this man was.

“You show your face at last.” He commented. “I was beginning to wonder if you HAD eyes.” Actually, that was still bugging him. The eyes in the man’s mask had glowed. How did he do that?

“Hm.” Came the response. “I see you don’t need that skeleton thing to create your Ameratsu.”

Sasuke nodded but volunteered no further information. Something about the way the man was studying him made him feel uneasy, as if every one of his secrets was being laid bare.

“Tell me.” Said the man suddenly. “Why did you leave Konoha?”

Again Konoha. “How do you know of that place?”

“Your friends told me about it.”

Impossible that Juugo and Suigetsu had said anything. This man must have found Naruto. “You should have brought them along.” He snorted. “You might have stood a chance.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “I work alone.”

Sasuke raised a suspicious eyebrow. “You have no bonds?” He asked.

“That’s right.”

“Hn.” Though he might have respected that, the statement was too obviously false. “I suppose that is why you came to rescue him, then.” He indicated the comatose Robin off to the side.  “Even though of course he means nothing to you.”

“Leave him out of this.”

“Tch. You are as weak as the others,” snorted Sasuke. “Childishly holding on to your ‘precious people’ because you lack the resolution to pursue true power. Bonds confuse, they weaken, they distract. It is because of your bonds that you are weak, and because of those bonds that you will die.”

The man gave an oddly disturbing smile. “Oh, trust me. That’s not going to happen.”

Superman watched with supreme satisfaction as the blonde teenager went flying away to once again crash into the ground. Quickly he shot down again, he’d been fighting this kid for too long to suppose that he would actually stay down this time.

To his astonishment, though, he actually seemed to be out for the count this time. His crumpled form lay under some scattered debris, and he was not moving. In fact, he lay so still that Superman gently knelt and touched his neck to feel for his pulse, but it seemed that the fall had not killed him, only knocked him senseless.

With a sigh of relief, Superman reached up and touched his ear. “Superman to Watchtower. He’s down. Send a retrieval team to…”

“Supes!” A near scream cut across the square and Superman whirled around just in time to see a familiar orange figure send a whirling orb of energy into Green Lantern’s hastily erected shield.

With a surge of desperation he launched himself into the air, but he was already too late, as the green wall of energy simply shattered under the force of the teenager’s power. GL went flying, and Superman screamed with rage as he shot at the perpetrator.

The boy turned just enough for Superman to catch sight of his widening pupils.

WHAM!

The boy went flying into the ground. Superman shot down again.

BLAM!

Now he was flying up into the air. Shooting high above him, Superman brought down both fists on the flying figure.

SLAM!

An orange speck went plummeting toward the earth, straight toward the concrete. Superman paused simply to watch.

SMASH!

Smoke rose up in a heaving cloud above a newly formed crater. Cracks spread outward, forming yet another crater in the ground below. Still floating above the city, Superman allowed himself a grim smile. No one’s getting up from that.

And then, unbelievably he caught a glimpse of orange. No, three glimpses of orange. And a shining blue glow in between them.

No.

Superman hurled himself earthward, but even he could see the energy attack was near completion. Without any knowledge of how it worked or what the boy’s control over it was, there was no way to stop it. Knocking the boy over might only send it in another direction. Trying to kill the two dopplegangers might cause him to loose control and explode the attack outward.

There was no way he could possibly stop the attack. And there was only one way he could possibly negate it.

Straight down he went, shooting right at the whirling vortex of energy. He barely registered the teen’s shocked expression as he thrust himself at the enormous, shredding orb, shielding it from the entire city.

Metropolis was HIS city. He would defend it.

“You seriously think you can win?”

“I know I can.” A calculated smirk curved Batman’s face. Just not in the way you’re thinking. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve yet.”

“You’re bluffing. Twice now you’ve overcome my Ameratsu.” The teenager remarked, red pupils glaring down. “It’s impressive, but I’m getting tired of this game. Time to bring it to an end”

His hands flew into a flurry of gestures. Batman, from the other side of the room, watched simply waiting to see what would happen. With the night-vision of his cowl gone, he was at a significant disadvantage.

“Katon Gouryuuka no Jutsu!”

An enormous dragon of fire shot out from the teenager’s mouth. Burning, coiling, turning water into steam as the sprinklers sprayed uselessly against it, it flew out…
…and crashed into the ceiling. Batman narrowed his eyes. Something that big, and he doesn’t even aim it correctly? Impossible. But why did he want to destroy the ceiling? To get rid of the sprinklers? Equally unlikely.

At least now he could see again. The teenager was leaning over, obviously exhausted, but Batman made no move to attack, instead looking up into the sky, trying to determine what the boy had been aiming for. Distantly he noted that there were some storm clouds gathering.

Wait.

Storm clouds?

This… this is impossible!

That was really the only thing Diana had the time to think. Just as well, as it also happened to be the only thing that accurately described the sheer whirlwind of fists and feet flying at her. The boy moved with superhuman speed, almost on a par with Flash. His linear style was the only reason she managed to block ANY of the hits he was sending at her.

Not that any of them were actually doing anything. She was still invincible, after all. The boy might just as well be pounding solid marble. It was just incredibly humiliating for her to get hit so much.

How did Bruce not mention this boy’s speed? She thought furiously. The next time I see him, I’m going to kill that man!

Suddenly her opponent disappeared, and the next second she was being hit from beneath. “Konoha Senpuu!” She heard someone scream as another kick, and then another, propelled her into the air.

Air?

Diana put on a burst of speed upwards, away from the boy and his unearthly speed. The next two blows barely connected, and after that she was free and away. She enjoyed the look of astonishment on the boy’s face for a moment before plunging back down at him.

The boy was fast, but not fast enough to dodge in mid-air, and definitely not fast enough to avoid hitting the ground at full speed. The pavement cracked under the impact and left a minor crater.

Picking herself up, Diana regarded the boy. He looked to be pretty out of it, but she got out her lasso just in case. A glance to the left assured her that the fat teenager was still comatose, and she KNEW that that pink-haired girl…

A fist collided with her jaw before she could finish the thought. Her lasso went flying away, and she felt the ground shoot out from under her feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of pink. Impossible! Before she could stop herself, she smashed through something and tumbled into a patch of grey, gooey… something.

She looked down. Wet concrete. She looked up. A concrete truck. With a very sizeable hole in it. She looked at herself. Wet Concrete… all over her.

Steaming with wrath, she looked up as her new opponent appeared at the side of the pit. “You will pay for this indignity.” She rasped.

The girl glared back with equal venom and snapped out something unintelligible.

As they dashed at each other, Diana failed to recognize two things. One, that running in concrete like this slowed her down noticeably. Two, that her opponent was lightly skimming over the surface of it and had no such problems.

Three, that the green-clad teen had awoken and was eyeing the lasso she’d dropped with keen interest.

Hinata had finally found Ketler Park, after several hours of wandering and two pairs of different directions from three different people. Though she still had no idea how to use the odd device Lois-san had given her, she had found a nice clean bench and had obediently waited there.

Now that things had calmed down a bit, Hinata had a chance to realize exactly how strange things had become. In the past 24 hours, she’d gone to fight a fugitive, failed miserably, woken up in a strange location, been taken in by a strange woman, and now was sitting in the park of a strange city.

Where was this place? When she’d awoken in the hospital she’d thought she was in an allied village but… this didn’t look like any of the villages she’d heard of. And so much of what was here was unfamiliar—the buildings, the streets, the… things that raced up and down them.

Where was she? Where was Lois-san? And where were her friends?

“You seem lost.”

Hinata glanced up, startled, to see a rather grim-looking man approaching the park bench. He was clad from head to foot in a long green trenchcoat, but his hair was a startling shade of red with a single streak of white. “I… I’m sorry…” she stammered. “I… I didn’t mean…”

“There is nothing wrong with being lost.” The man consoled her. “Or rather, there is, but the fault is yours only if you do not seek to find yourself again. Do you know where you are supposed to be?”

“I… Lois-san told me to wait here…”

The man closed his eyes. “But is this where you are supposed to be?”

Hinata stared at the odd man. What was he saying?

“Perhaps I should explain.” The man sighed, opening his eyes suddenly to reveal a disturbing shade of green. “You are far from home, are you not? You could have gone anywhere. So why are you here, in particular?”

“Lois-san…”

“Ms. Lane told you to wait here. I understand that.” Hinata blinked at the man’s interruption. How did he know Lois-san? “But have you asked yourself why Ms. Lane was the one to find you? Why Ms. Lane should bring you here, to Metropolis, at this precise moment?”

“Ummm… n-no… Why?”

“Because.” The man’s eyes burned into her as he leaned forward. “This is where you were supposed to be. It was important that you come to Metropolis for this moment. It was important that you wait here, in this park, so I might speak with you.”

Hinata could think of little to say beyond the obvious. “Why?”

“So that you know what to expect. So that you know that more is to come. So that you and your friends may be prepared for the crisis.”

“Crisis?” Hinata blinked. Than something else, more important, in the man’s words occurred to her. “F-f-friends? My friends are here? You mean… they came here too? Where are they?”

The man shrugged. “Some are close and some are far. They are all alive, but they are all confused. Like you, they do not know why they are where they are. Or more appropriately, where they ought to be.”

“Please.” Hinata almost fell to her knees. “Do you know where my friends are? Can you take me to them? I need to… I need to…”

“Yes, Hyuuga Hinata, there is much you need to do.” Hinata glanced up in surprise at the man’s grim face. “Much to do that even you do not yet know. But for now, there is a battle that you must stop. A confusion you must clear up. A connection you must make.”

The man began to move away. “Where are you supposed to be, Hyuuga Hinata?”

“I… I don’t know…” Getting slowly to her feet, Hinata blinked in confusion at the man. “Please, I’m sorry, but I just don’t… I don’t understand what you’re… What do you want me to do?”

“For now? I want you to see, Hyuuga Hinata.” The man gave her one last burning glance. “I want you open your eyes… and see.”

The man was gone.

Hinata blinked for a moment at the patch of empty ground where he had been a moment ago. Then suddenly, she understood his last words and brought up her fingers in a familiar gesture.

“Byakugan!”

Pain. Ripping, burning pain, shredding away at his suit, his skin, his untouched flesh, his unbreakable bone, even. Blinding light, whirling blue. Explosions of smoke on the left, and right. Two yellow-slitted eyes fading to blue…
Darkness.

Punch. Kick. Block. Jump. Legs heavy. Pink hair shooting by, sudden pain in chest. Swing. Air. Whip around to face her. Too slow, but don’t fly. Finish this now. Finish this fairly. Punch, jab, knee. Satisfying crunch. Follow up, swing. Miss. Twirl around. Punch, jab. Whoosh of air underneath. Punch, kic…
Legs stuck. Look.
Rope.

Leap. Floor flying underneath, turning stark white in the glow. Cape. Grab. Familiar synthetic fabric against your skin. Maniacal laughter behind you. Railing. No further. Ditch behind. Turn. Look up. Lightning growing. Dragon? No. Impossible. Back up against railing. Cold metal against your skin.
Lightning flashing out. From all angles. Why not struck? More power? How much needed?
Large pulse! Coming out, coming down! Leap-flip-over-railing-duck-in-ditch-cover-with…
Too slow.

“Did… what just happened?” Mr. Terrific was poking at the screen anxiously. “Who won? Computer, do we have anything on thermal readouts? Gamma radiation? Energy signatures? Anything?”
“Not necessary.” J’onn shook his head, a slightly glazed look in his eyes. “The battle is over.”

“Ooooohhhhh….” Superman sat up, holding his head in both hands. “I hope I don’t have to do that again.”

Smoke clouded the entire battlefield, obscuring all but the small pile where Superman lay, thrown there by the last explosion. With pain shooting all across his body, he waited for a few moments, gasping in great lungfulls of air, before finally staggering upright, clutching his chest. He was bare, bruised, and bloody… but he was alive.

Going to need a new suit after this. He thought ruefully to himself as he lurched forward. His cape was gone, parts of the back had gotten ripped off, and his entire chest was a ass of bloodied cuts—however shallow most of them were.

Finally reaching the end of the trail of rubble, he stared down at his foe where he lay fallen, face-over, in the cracked pavement. Cautiously, remembering another ‘fallen’ version, he nudged the body over, eliciting a groan.

Blonde hair. Blue eyes cracked half-open. Bruised and bloody face with three odd scars running on each side.

He’s just a kid! Superman thought, in spite of himself. Just like the other ones!

The boy’s half-opened eyes widened slightly, and Superman realized that the teenager was not quite unconscious. Quickly he whipped back his arm, remembering all that this kid could do in a second and all it took to keep him down…

“Juuho Shoshiken!!”

A screaming young woman shot out of nowhere and smashed him with two fists of glowing blue energy. Superman whipped away, astonished. Another?

Perhaps. But this one could speak English.

“I won’t let you harm Naruto-kun!”

Stepping back, Sakura gaped in astonishment as the once-powerful warrior before her collapsed backwards, groaning. Did I finally get to her? She wasn’t showing signs of fatigue, but… that last hit really did seem to do it...

She glanced over at Lee, who looked just as surprised as her. “Did you… ah…”

“No, Sakura –san.” Lee shook his head, perfectly serious. “I did nothing.”

“Huh. Wonder what happened.” Sakura stared at the now-comatose woman at her feet. “Maybe her jutsu has a time limit or something. Good thing you got her hands and feet tangled in the rope like that, though, it held her in place long enough for me to punch her a good one.”

“Thank you Sakura-san. But what do we do with her now?”

Sakura spoke slowly, as if only thinking things out now. “She was looking for us particularly, so chances are she’s from the same village as that caped man. Which means she might know where Neji is, or at least who’s keeping him prisoner.”

“But she can’t talk properly.” Lee eyed the woman worriedly. “Do you suppose she is deranged, Sakura-san? That would explain the outfit…”

“That’s enough Lee,” snapped Sakura, strangely annoyed. Inwardly it occurred to her that Lee was nobody to go talking about weird outfits and the deranged people who wore them. “Even if we can’t communicate with her she’s still a useful hostage. We’ll just need to make sure she’s tied up enough so she doesn’t try anything again.”

“Yosh!” Lee saluted. “I shall tie her up thirty times, and if I cannot do that, I will…”

“No, I’ll do that. You go check on Chouji,” ordered Sakura, with a little more force than was perhaps necessary. As Lee sped off, she glanced down with a smile at the fallen woman.

“Got you, night hawk.”

Only the sight of his enemy’s prone form kept Sasuke from exploding.

What was wrong with this world? His wonderful lightning jutsu had taken nearly twice as long to form as it usually did, and when it had he found it incredibly difficult to control. He should have been able to tell it to go right over or even right through that metal railing the man had leapt behind, and yet half the lightning energy had gotten yanked away from him into that one railing.

No matter, though. The other half, it seemed, had been enough to shock his enemy senseless. Not even he could dodge the lightning. Why he’d stopped to grab the cape and wrap it around himself, Sasuke had no idea.

He gave the prone form a little kick and, receiving no reaction, turned around once again to face the room. His other hostages were doubtless gone. Suigetsu and Juugo might still be in the base, though, and they still had the one—no, two now…

Sasuke stopped and glanced around the room. Where was the other hostage, anyway? He couldn’t have run away, Sasuke had placed a genjutsu on him and placed him over by…

The railing. In the ditch. Where the man was. The man who was stirring and reaching up to his ear.

“Batman to Watchtower requesting emergency teleport stat!”

And Sasuke stared in blind fury as his two remaining hostages dissolved into blue light.

“What the…” Superman stared at the image of feminine fury in front of him.

“Stay away!” She screamed, raising her hands. “Not one step closer! I’ll kill you if you try to hurt Naruto-kun!”

“You’re defending him?”

“Stay away!”

Sighing, Superman wondered if this was worth the time. Granted, she might be as powerful as the teenager had been, and goodness knew they didn’t need MORE wreckage downtown, but she might be more on the level of Batman’s attackers. In either case, while she held him off, that incredibly dangerous teenager grew steadily closer to consciousness.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t really…”

“Hinata? Hinata!”

The terrifyingly familiar voice jolted Superman out of the battle as Lois Lane jogged over the pockmarked terrain. “Hinata, what are you…”

“Lois, stay back!” Superman called out. “If she’s with the boy, there’s no telling what…”

Lois sent one of her death-glares at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, you. This is Hinata, I know her.”

Superman blinked.

“You… what?”

“I met this girl in Jump City! Took her on because of some story she has about hunting down a fugitive person, but she’s a real sweetheart, she’s not going to hurt me or anyone!”

“Lois-san?” The girl was lowering her hands, apparently as confused as Superman. “What’s going on?”

“You’re asking me? What are you doing here and not at the park?”

A sudden beeping in Superman’s ear kept him from hearing the rest. “Supes! Breaking news, Batman just appeared on the teleport platform, seriously beat up! He says he ran into that fugitive guy in Jump City.”

“So who’s this guy I’m fighting?” asked Superman. He had a terrible sinking feeling.

“I dunno… one of the others, I guess. The kid downstairs, the one who can see through walls, called him Naruto, so apparently he recognizes him.”

Superman groaned. It just figures.

“Look, Superman,” Lois was back. “I know this girl, she’s fine. Her name’s Hyuuga Hinata, and she comes from this weird place called…”

“Konoha.” Superman finished for her wearily.

Lois blinked. “You know?”

“Hinata.” Ignoring Lois for the moment, Superman called out to the girl. “I need you to come with me to the Metro Tower.”

“Stay away!”

“Hinata, girl, c’mon.” Lois pleaded. “This is Superman. You can trust him.”

The suspicious look in the girl’s eyes wavered. “This is… Superman-san?”

“I’m sorry for fighting your friend,” apologized Superman. “I thought he was attacking the city. If you come with me, we can give him proper medical care and patch him up. You can speak to some of your friends there too.”

The girl blinked. “My… friends? You know where they are?”

“They’re at the tower. We’ve been taking care of them.” Superman could almost FEEL Lois’ suspicious look. “They’re all fine, but we need you down there so we can figure out what’s going on.”

Hinata thought. Superman waited. Lois glared.

“Can Lois-san come too?”

She’s gonna kill me… “Yes, Lois-san can come too.”

“Alright.” The girl lowered her arms. “I’ll come along.”

Despite the impending Lois-storm, Superman just barely suppressed a sigh of relief.

Finally, maybe we can get some answers.

Chapter Text

“No, I don’t know.” Hatake Kakashi tugged at his robes irritably, trying to smooth them out. “It was a bigger teleportation than I’ve ever done before. It nearly killed me.”

A frown spread across the Raikage’s dark features. “Was it necessary to make it so large?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Sasuke was moving awfully fast, and his team was a good distance behind him. If either of them had been left afterwards they would have killed us all, I figured taking them all out was the best option.”

“Taking them all, though? The Konoha team? Including Naruto? Was that necessary, Hokage?” Gaara’s gaze was deadly.

“Look, what’s the big deal?” cut in the Tsuchikage irritably. “Konoha took out Sasuke, as it promised, and Madara has lost four of his best soldiers. We knew the mission would be dangerous, I have to imagine that the team you sent in knew they might not all come back. This is war. Casualties happen. Get over it, brat. As for the Kyuubi, well…” he shrugged, “…bad as it is that we’ve lost a jinchuuriki this early in the fight, at least he’s out of Madarra’s clutches now. I doubt his ‘Moons Eye Plan’ will even work with that kid gone.”

Gaara’s eyes flickered. “Naruto was a friend of mine.”

“You have friends?” The Tsuchikage snorted, folding his stubby little arms. “That’s a weakness in a Kage. Friends can be used against you, betray you, fail you. Your affection for your friends can cause you to overlook what’s best for the village as a whole.”

On the other side of the table, a tall, fire-haired woman rolled her eyes. “Look, Onoki, just because YOU’RE a heartless son of a…”

“Manners, Mizukage,” sneered the Iwa leader. “We ARE at a diplomatic summit, are we not? I am simply giving the boy some helpful advice.”

“Helpful or not, the point remains that Naruto WAS a friend of mine, and I cannot take his death so lightly.” Gaara glared.

“He’s not dead.”

Three heads swiveled to look at the one-eyed Copycat nin. “What do you mean?”

“I said the jutsu sent things to another dimension, but I never said it killed them.” Kakashi held up a finger. “To be honest, I’m not sure what it DOES do to them, aside from making them disappear, but I don’t think it inherently destroys them.”

“Then what makes you think they’re alive?”

“Naruto has a talent for not dying.” Kakashi shrugged.

Gaara blinked a few times. “Alright.” He said finally. “So… what next?”

“Konoha is working on a way to find and recover Naruto and the others.” Kakashi responded. “So far we haven’t come up with anything, but we’ll keep working at it.”

“Let me know if you need Suna’s help.”

“In the meantime, we should strike at Madara now, while is still reeling from this loss,” urged the Tsuchikage. “We cannot allow him to build up his forces.”

The Mizukage inclined her head. ““The loss of Sasuke and his team will be a critical blow to him, it would be good if we could capitalize on it.”

“I agree as well,” nodded the Raikage, standing to his feet. “It’s settled then, we will attack as soon as our forces are ready. Our intel team has already located their base, we will send them out again to verify that Madarra is there, but otherwise, all is in readiness. Konoha, prepare your ninjas also, we must have all our resources.” Glancing around the room, he gave one short final nod. “Very well then. Good day, gentlemen.”

Kakashi remained seated at the long table as the other Kages filed out. Studying the door, he remarked, “Was it just me, or were most of them not at all sorry to hear that we had lost 12 ninjas, including 6 clan heads, 2 jounins, and 1 jinchuuriki?”

“Probably not,” grunted Shikaku, standing at the Hokage’s elbow. “They’re allied now, but they’ve got an eye to the future, just like anyone.”

Kakashi sunk lower in his chair. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hokage-sama…” Shikaku hesitated as Kakashi glanced sharply up. “Perhaps… no, never mind, not worth mentioning. It’s nothing.”

“Whenever you use my formal title, it means it’s more than nothing. What is it?”

Hesitating only a moment longer, Shikaku asked, “Raikage had a good point. It wasn’t necessary to teleport such a large area, was it?”

“No.” Kakashi glanced down. “I can teleport out flying missiles so long as I focus properly. The warp shouldn’t have been so big.”

“Then why…”

“I don’t know,” shrugged Kakashi. “I honestly don’t know. Actually, I meant to only get Sasuke—I figured Naruto could handle the others—but something just… took over.” Frowning, he added, “It’s not right, either. For such a large zone, and with me so worn out already…” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t have had the reserves to do that. I would have died, and it still wouldn’t have worked.”

“That’s… curious.” Shikaku mused.

“It’s disturbing is what it is.” Kakashi shook his head. “Sorry, Shikaku, but I really don’t know what happened to Shikamaru and the others.” He gave a tired smile. “But for what it’s worth, what I said earlier was true. Naruto has a knack for not dying, and he tends to take others with him. So long as they all stick together, they should be fine.”

“You kept a bunch of kids imprisoned in the tower without any kind of trial or hearing?”

“Now Lois, it’s not like that…”

“Right, because you thought it was some super-dangerous threat to the universe and you didn’t actually listen to what they were saying.”

“Lois, if you’d heard the things they did say…”

“I talked to that one Hinata kid. She seemed reasonable enough. Didn’t you at least think of giving out some kind of press statement? If you honestly thought there was some kind of invasion going on, you should have told the people about it. Wasn’t that the whole point of Let’s-get-closer-to-the-people-by-building-a-tower-on-Earth deal?”

“We were planning to hold a press conference as soon as…”

“As soon as what? As soon as you caught the other kids to lock them up in your little white room also? Or were you going to keep that secret too and just let them molder away down here while you interrogated them to pieces? Do you know what the humans rights people would do if they found out about this whole deal? They’d start the whole thing with Cadmus over again, that’s what they’d do!”

“But we were working with the government this…”

“Oh, that makes me feel SO much better…”

Mr. Terrific and J’onn impassively regarded the raging reporter and the cowering man of steel on the floor below. “Supes does realize there’s no way she’s actually going to release this information, right?”

“I sincerely doubt it.” J’onn shook his head.

“Oh c’mon! Half the world knows Lois has got a thing for Supes, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that she’d actually release something that’d open him to attack.”

“Lois Lane is a capable reporter with a high regard for the people’s right to know.”

Mr. Terrific rolled his eyes. “J’onn…”

“Superman does not appear to be aware of the magnitude of her feelings.” J’onn interrupted. “And even if he were, his own doubts about our actions make him an easy target in this matter. So no, Superman is not aware that her threats are baseless.”

“Hm.” Eying the irate woman, Mr. Terrific let out an unexpected chuckle. “She knows that too, doesn’t she?”

“I believe so. She seems to enjoy making him squirm.” There was just a tinge of amusement in the Martian’s voice.

“Heh.”

Lois’ words once again reached an audible level. “This sort of thing… why this sort of thing could just…”

“Lois, please…”

“And where’s Bru—Batman, anyway? He started this whole mess, did he? I’ve got a few choice words to put to that brooding billionaire!”

“The medical ward. But Lois…”

“Fine!” She stamped away, then turned around. “I’ll give you 24 hours, and if those kids aren’t out of here free and happy in that time, I’m calling White and getting this plastered all over the front page! I mean it too!” She called back the last bit as she stalked out the door and slammed it behind her.

Letting out a long sigh, Superman passed a hand over his face. He turned around with a groan, suddenly catching sight of the two somber technicians.

“What?” he asked, annoyed.

“Now!” Hawkgirl screamed, swooping downwards towards the shattered tower below. “Red Tornado! Captain Atom! Cover me!” She touched her ear. “Aquaman, move in! Get in from the waterways! Flash…”

“Waaaay ahead of you.” Came the response as a red streak appeared over the water.

From air, land, and sea, the Leaguers swept upon the now-shattered Titan’s Tower. After Batman had regained consciousness, he’d told them the whole story and urged for an immediate strike on the tower. Despite all the confusion going on about Superman’s battle, J’onn had quickly formed a team and sent them to the tower.

Fast as it had been, apparently it had not been fast enough. “Control room clear.” Hawkgirl noted, disappointment evident in her voice.

“Majority of top levels ascertained to be empty.” Red Tornado intoned.

“Got the stunned elemental, but the rest of the basement is empty.” Aquaman grunted.

“So’s the rest of the tower.” Flash appeared at her elbow. “Looks like they cleared out already.”

Shayera clenched her mace in frustration. “Damnit…” she muttered. “Alright, form a sweep team. Spread out to find any signs of where they are. If you find them, do not engage, call in the others for backup.”

“Vixen here.” Another voice crackled through the communicator. “I’ve picked up the girls from the point Batman told us about. Bringing them back to the Metro Tower.”

“Good.” Hawkgirl sighed as she looked about. “Maybe they can make sense of this.”

“So, let’s see if we have this right.” Mr. Terrific folded his arms across the chest. “The city square attacker…”

“Naruto.” Superman quietly amended.

“Naruto.” Mr Terrific shrugged. “…is apparently NOT the fugitive we were looking for, just an insanely powerful ninja. The actual fugitive…”

“Uchiha Sasuke.” Batman had had to be largely wheeled in on a stretcher, but he had insisted on being present.

“Sasuke.” Mr. Terrific nodded, somewhat impatiently. “…landed in Jump City, where he took out the Titans, presumably to set up base in their tower. Apparently the girl…”

“Hinata.” Also from Superman.

Mr. Terrific bit his lip. “…Hinata, despite being part of the original group, also landed there somehow, and was left behind by the docks, where Lois found her.”

“I tell you, I checked Jump City. Including the docks.,” Green Lantern, his arm in a cast and his face in several bandages, argued. “There wasn’t anything there.”

Mr. Terrific shrugged. “These are ninjas.”

“Ninjas? Don’t make me laugh.” Batman snorted. “Incredibly flamboyant with overpowered attacks? They can’t begin to understand stealth.”

“They seem to have been stealthy enough to evade Green Lantern.” J’onn pointed out.

“Of course they were.” Batman growled. “Green Lantern glows bright neon green. He couldn’t sneak up on a barn.”

John’s eyes narrowed. “Some of us have powers that DON’T involve hiding in the dark, Bats.”

“In any case.” Mr. Terrific continued, waving the argument down. “From what she tells us, there were twelve initial attackers, plus the rival… Naruto, who showed up later. They were up against the fugi… Sasuke’s team, who numbered four. That’s seventeen. If we’re assuming the whole group teleported here, then we have six of them here, with another three known to be in Gotham, and three of the fugitives in Jump City. That brings us to twelve, so we have five left to account for, including one of the fugitives.” He drew a deep breath. “Did I forget anything?”

“One of their number had a dog.” J’onn pointed out.

“One can fly. Or at least crash.” Green Lantern winced.

“One of them speaks English.” Batman’s eyes narrowed. “Although she cannot explain how.”

“And none of them seem to know how they got here or what happened.” Superman sighed.

A heavy silence descended over the tower as they all pondered the situation. Suddenly, J’onn’s eyes glazed over and he spoke up. “Vixen has just returned with the remaining Titans.”

Superman raised his head. “Status?”

“Unharmed. The girl Raven seems to be slowly regaining consciousness, but is being taken to the medical bay anyway. Starfire is accompanying her to receive treatment for her ribs.”

“What about the other Titans?”

J’onn blinked as he focused on the others. “Cyborg is still charging, but is now cognizant and is compiling an account of the battle at the tower. Beast Boy apparently still cannot use his powers, but is receiving standard medical care for his… fractures. Robin remains unconscious.”

“Does Vixen know how the assault on the tower went?” Batman’s frown bespoke his worries.

“They reported in a minute ago.” Mr. Terrific was consulting the console in front of him. “Looks like they caught the elemental you mentioned, but the other two were gone. They’re conducting a sweep to try and find them.”

Batman swore quietly.

“So we’ve got six—seven—super powered kids here and eleven more running around, three of which are confirmed hostiles.” Green Lantern didn’t look too happy either. “So. What’re we going to do about it?”

Mr. Terrific shrugged. “Given how quickly the girl—Hinata—found this Naruto, I’d say our best chance is to get the kids to help us find the others. They seem to know how to seek each other out.”

“They won’t do that,” frowned Green Lantern. “Even if this one girl seems to trust us, the rest sure don’t. No way they’ll help us find their friends. Not unless we can convince them we mean well.”

Sighing, Superman stood to his feet. “We can at least ask.”

“Neji-ni-san, please remain calm!” Hinata vainly tried to press her intense cousin back into his chair. “Please! The people here are willing to help us, there’s no reason to start breaking out of here.”

“If we did intend to escape, this would be the ideal time to accomplish it,” intoned Shino from his chair. They had all been released from their beds and brought into a room with a table, where they were all now sitting. “Why? We have been released from our restraints and brought into an area with relatively little supervision. The base seems to be in a state of confusion and my allies can detect no significant countermeasures. This seems like a very good time to make our escape from this facility.”

“But Shino-san, I told you! These are good people, they can help us!”

Ino snorted. “Look, Hinata, no offense, but you tend to think that of everyone.”

“They helped Naruto-kun.”

“After beating him up.” Neji eyed her ferociously. “I saw the whole battle between Naruto and that one man. The fact that they brought him to their medical bay here means nothing.” Turning suddenly, he added: “Sai, would you stop that? I keep telling you, we’re not in a genjutsu.”

Sai did not respond, but simply wove his fingers into a seal and muttered “Kai!”

“If he was in a genjutsu, though, that would mean you might very well simply be part of it.” Shino seemed to be amused at the spectacle. “Your Byakugan might not actually exist, hence he cannot rely on it in the same way he cannot rely on my bugs.”

Neji rolled his eyes. “But if he was in a genjutsu, he’d also have gotten out by NOW simply through overuse of chakra. He’s been doing that for hours.”

Sai paused at this comment, then grabbed a pencil.

“Wait, DON’T…!”

Too late. The former ROOT nin had stabbed himself through the hand with the pencil, and was staring at it pensively. “Curious.” He mused. “Physical pain has no effect either.”

“That’s because we’re not in a genjutsu, Sai.”

“Perhaps. Unless we’re in an unusually strong one that incorporates pain.”

“To return to the matter at hand, perhaps Hinata would care to explain why she trusts these people so much?” Shino turned to his teammate, an inquisitive eyebrow raised. “After all, they have imprisoned four of us and do not appear to be from any of our allied villages.”

“That’s just it.” Hinata nodded. “They’re not. They’ve never heard of any of us before.”

Neji frowned. “Impossible. The green man knew my name.”

“Of course he did. He is able to read minds,” commented Sai. “He spoke in my head earlier… I believe he is using a technique similar to the Yamanaka clan.”

“Oh, c’mon!” Ino crossed her arms. “Nobody in my family has green skin.”

Shino rubbed his chin in thought. “It would explain how they would know our names and allegiance but not other crucial details.”

“True,” admitted Neji reluctantly. “Even though they knew I was a Hyuuga, they didn’t seem to know what I could do. Certainly they didn’t understand the Byakugan, or they would have extracted it.”

Hinata nodded again. “Exactly. They’ve never heard of Hyuuga, or Byakugan, or Jyuuken before. They know we’re from Konoha, but not what Konoha is. I don’t even think they know about the Land of Fire.” Gaining courage from Sai’s contemplative nod, she continued. “We’re complete strangers to them. It’s like we’re in a whole another world.”

“How can that be possible?” Neji nearly exploded.

“Genjutsu.”

“Shut up, Sai.”

Shino was thinking again. “If this is another world, then things begin to make sense. These men here are all obviously S-level, yet I have never heard of any of them before.”

“The cities are different too—both this one and the one I was captured in. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like them.” Neji suddenly frowned. “But if they’re not enemies, why did they capture us?”

“Actually, that is the easiest part to understand.” Shino adjusted his glasses. “Given that these men have no knowledge of us or our village, we are intruders, agents of an unknown force. Willingly or not, we have trespassed on their territory and endangered their village’s security.” He glanced at Neji. “Were we to discover ninjas from an unknown village within Konoha, we doubtless would have acted in a similar manner.”

Sai gave one of his false smiles. “Well, perhaps not very similar….”

“They might get around to that part,” pointed out Ino. “If they still think we’re enemies, they might start… interrogating pretty soon. Escape still sounds good to me.”

“Perhaps. But it seems strange that they have not begun more intensive measures already.” Shino frowned. “And, if Hinata is correct that they have no knowledge of Konoha, our behavior here may mean the difference between an alliance and a war.”

“It could also mean the difference between life and death.” Sai’s smile was still plastered across his face. “They do not have to dislike our village to dislike us. They might view this as a prime opportunity to add to their village’s jutsus. Or bloodlines,” he added, looking at Neji, Hinata, and Ino rather pointedly.

This time Neji shook his head. “If it was bloodlines they were after, they would have begun extraction already. And as to jutsus…” he paused for a moment. “…I don’t think they can use them.”

“What?”

“Impossible.”

Shino’s eyebrow rose slightly. “Explain.”

“When I was in the city with Sakura and the others, I used my Byakugan.” Neji clarified. “And here in this facility, I used it again. It appears most people here cannot use chakra.”

“Seriously?” Ino’s mouth was open.

“Interesting. It certainly supports the thesis that we are no longer in the vicinity of the elemental nations.”

“But how is that even possible?”

“Gen-“

“Shut UP, Sai!”

“Still.” Neji frowned. “If one of them already has something close to the Yamanaka bloodline, they may be able to use them somehow. And even if they cannot use chakra, they may try to replicate it—experiments, surgeries…” he shook his head. “The less time we spend here, the better.”

Sai inclined his head in agreement. “They may not be hostile, but that does not mean they are trustworthy. They may wish us to impress us into their own forces, or learn how to use our powers, or learn where Konoha is so they may attack it. At all costs, we must preserve village secrets, and we cannot do that so long as we are in their power.”

“In addition, we must endeavor to return to Konoha. Why? Our protracted absence will doubtless cause unrest and perhaps conflict, especially given the relative importance of certain members in our party. Also, every ninja will be needed in the coming war. Our inability to help may prove fatal.” Shino adjusted his sunglasses.

“We can’t leave right away,” interjected Neji, shaking his head. “We need to get our bearings to know how to get to Konoha, and at the very least, we must find Sakura and the others before returning.”

“In that matter, we can help you.” All the ninjas turned at the sound of the new voice. In the door stood the tall green man, accompanied by a blonde archer in a green suit, who winked at the teenagers. “We also wish to find your comrades and clear up this misunderstanding as soon as possible. Working together, we have a much better chance of doing so as soon as possible.”

Sasuke glanced out the window as a winged shape flitted across the sky. Shaking his head irritably, he returned his attention to the paper on the table before him. Flying ninjas?

Moments after the strange caped man had disappeared, Sasuke had left himself. With his hostages gone and his cover blown, flight had been the only option. Suigetsu and Juugo were either incapacitated or dead, trying to take them with him would have been a waste of time.

He had taken up refuge in a deserted garage some sixty miles from the bay. Though he didn’t pretend to understand what the huge metal devices inside were for, in one of them he had found a very obvious map, which he was now consulting.

As he had suspected, the map showed nothing familiar to him. As he had NOT suspected, the writing on it was entirely unintelligible. If anything, it looked like the mechanical language the computers had been spitting out. Sasuke had not considered whether this universe would speak a different language than his own—after all, all his opponents thus far had been perfectly intelligible—but this map, coupled with the computers and several the signs he had seen on the way here, led him to suspect that this was the case.

That brought up several disturbing issues. For one, he would have no way to blend in, his speech alone would give him away immediately. For two, it would make torture and interrogation significantly more difficult. For three… well, it presently made his map rather worthless.

He supposed the names of the cities wouldn’t have meant much to him anyway, still it would have been useful to understand the key to the map and any information it contained. As it was, he could only determine the relative size of the cities.

Casting another glance out the window, Sasuke thought things over. North and South, at least, would still be the same. He could try to determine his present location by matching the symbols at the city entrance to those on the map, and head straight for the nearest city. For a moment he wondered if it would be better to hide in the country, where he had less chance of standing out, but he dismissed the notion quickly. Cities meant ready food and shelter, both things he needed easy access to in order to focus on his former sensei’s jutsu. So long as he did not talk much, people would not notice the difference in his speech.

However… Sasuke frowned as he glanced down at his now-torn shirt and cloak… he had noticed on the way over that his clothing was far from normal. If he wanted to blend in, he would need something different.

His eyes traveled toward a long dark trenchcoat hanging on the wall.

Pain.

Naruto’s body hurt all over. He could practically feel the broken bones in his back shifting, and his arm, legs, fingers, and toes felt afire. Dimly, he tried to swim through the fog of pain and weariness toward consciousness, telling himself that he needed to get up, he needed to fight… But it was so comfortable in this bed.

Wait. Bed? Comfortable?

Naruto’s eyes shot open. His last bed had definitely NOT been comfortable. For that matter, the last room he’d been kept in looked nothing like this room either. Oh, sure, it was still white, but the walls were different, the door was different, the thousands of medical… things surrounding him were different. And the lack of restraints on his arms was really different.

The biggest difference, though, was the pale-eyed girl who slowly came into focus in front of him.

“Hi-na-ta?” his voice came out as a croak. “What happen’d? Ar’you okay?”

Her face collapsed in relief at his words. “Y-yes, Naruto-kun.” She smiled. “We’re fine. We’re safe.” She stepped away a bit, allowing him to look around the room. “Superman took you to the hospital here.”

“Superman?” The name sounded vaguely familiar, but that was quickly forgotten at the sight of something much more important. “Guys!”

“Naruto-san.” Shino gave a short grave nod. He, Ino, Sai, and Neji were all clustered at the foot of the bed, next to a tall dark man with a black “T” painted on his head. They seemed to be intentionally avoiding the other side of the room, which contained several doctors and a heavily bandaged man half-sitting, half-lying on a stretcher.

Though puzzled as to why his friends were all acting so strange, Naruto felt a growing ecstasy. His friends were back! They were all okay! Okay, safe, and apparently no longer in the hands of creepy bald-dude! They weren’t even being held prisoners! Aw, man, this was AWESOME! He’d have to meet this Superman guy and…

Wait. Superman? As in the guy who…

“Ah!” Naruto tried to leap upright but fell back, wincing.

“Naruto-kun!” Hinata darted forward again, closely followed by the others. The doctors tried to get in too, to fiddle with the different tubes feeding into Naruto’s body, but he swatted at them.

“Get away, get away!” He shouted. “Not a step closer!”

“Naruto-kun, calm down!” Hinata grabbed his arm. “They’re friends! They’re trying to help you! Please, calm down!”

“Calm down? They’re working with that guy with the cape! We gotta hurry or they’ll…”

“Please, listen to your friend.” That was the dark man. He was speaking in a calm, polite tone. “Superman was attempting to defend the city. He thought you were attacking it, he had no idea you’d just stumbled into it yourself.”

Naruto paused a minute. “Really? He was attacking awfully hard.”

“Well…” The man coughed slightly. “You did attack three members of his team.”

Team. Right, Naruto remembered that. He supposed that did make a bit more sense then. Slowly the assurances flooded back into his head. They weren’t being held prisoner. They were safe. Hinata trusted these people (momentarily it flashed into his head that Shino apparently didn’t, but he dismissed it). They were okay.

Still, he felt the need to make sure. “So… you guys aren’t working with the one bald guy then?”

“Bald guy?” The one in the stretcher spoke up now. His voice was surprisingly hoarse.

Naruto glanced over at him, confused. “Yeah, y’know, the bald guy. The one who was asking all the questions? He wanted to know about chakra and stuff. You guys aren’t working with him?”

The two men exchanged a glance. Now even Naruto’s friends looked puzzled.

“I guess you’re not, then.” Naruto let out a yawn of relief. “I didn’t really think so, I mean, these beds are a lot nicer and there’re no restraints. And the room is cooler too. But I thought that one… Superman guy—and his team—I thought they were from the bald guy’s village trying to catch me again.”

“No.” The dark man was obviously speaking carefully. “No, they weren’t.”

Naruto yawned. “Oh good.”

“Can you describe this ‘bald guy?’” That was from the stretcher guy. He seemed oddly tense.

Naruto gave a shrug. “I dunno. Pretty average, I guess. Big forehead. Wore a lab coat. Creepy-looking, deep voice. Bald. Really bald.”

“You said, that, Naruto-kun.” Hinata reminded him.

The man hissed through his teeth and lay back on his stretcher. “Should’ve known.”

“Impossible.” The dark man looked at the other one. “He’s dead. It could be lots of people, Bats, we’ve got tons of bald baddies, it doesn’t have to…”

“It could be, yes.  But we both know who it is.” commented the other grimly. “Being dead has never stopped him before.”

“But look, it just couldn’t…”

The other interrupted him. “Show him the picture if you’re not sure. Let him look.”

The dark man sighed and reached over to a computer console on the near wall. After a few clicks, he found what he was looking for and swiveled the screen to face Naruto. “He look like this, son?”

Naruto squinted. “Yeah, that’s him. Bit shorter, maybe, and no creepy grin, but…”

His voice trailed off. The dark man, his face almost pale, had suddenly clutched the side of the bed and let loose a colorful string of language Naruto couldn’t quite follow. The other man looked even grimmer than normal, and his hands were clenching and unclenching on the sheets.

“Luthor.” He hissed. Glancing at Naruto, he snapped: “If there’s anything else you know about that place, you had better tell us quickly.”

“Why?” Naruto felt a sudden burst of stubbornness.

“Because if he has any more of your friends, they’re in serious danger.”

Kiba shivered. The room wasn’t that cold, but there was a window open at his back, and without his coat, the draft was really annoying.

He didn’t see why the man had taken his coat. Or his pants, really. The guy’d been studying them for hours, now, as if he expected to find something sinister (outside of the kunai, shuriken, and exploding tags he’d already found) inside them. He’d pick up the fabric, feel it between his fingers, peer at the weave through a large glass, and jot down a few notes in the little book he carried around.

Although Kiba supposed he should be grateful the man hadn’t moved on to any REAL interrogation techniques, he still missed his coat. And his pants. Sitting in boxers tied to a small wooden chair in a drafty apartment got old REAL fast. To make things worse, he hadn’t had a chance to sleep last night, and every time he looked like he was nodding off, the man would dump a bucket of water on him.

Another reason Kiba was shivering.

Still, no problem. He was a ninja, he could deal. He’d stayed awake whole weeks before fighting off ninjas without anything except a few soldier pills. A missed night in the company of a madman like this was nothing.

The faceless man stood up finally. He rubbed his chin and muttered a few words of meaningless jargon, then turned to Kiba. “Be right back.” He informed him. “Need to cross-reference thread weave with Stonehenge algorithms.”

Kiba rolled his eyes. He’d really stopped trying to understand what the man said even when he spoke properly. This whole situation was starting to feel unreal. Buildings and beasts of steel, faceless men who sometimes uttered blabbering syllables and sometimes meaningless words, and stars that didn’t match up. Between that, the cold, and the lack of sleep, Kiba was starting to wonder if this whole thing was just one giant hallucination.

A sudden noise at the door made him look up.

He stared in disbelief as a woman in purple underwear, wearing a mask and carrying a crossbow, entered the apartment. The woman started back at the sight of him, frowned, cocked her head, uttered a few unintelligable angry exclamations, and stalked through the opposite door. A few moments later, a stream of inarticulate noises issued from the other room.

Kiba blinked. So... hallucination, then.

“I was afraid you were dead.” Naruto said, his voice curiously small. “Sasuke said… he said he was gonna… right in front of me…”

“I’m fine, Naruto-kun.” She offered a reassuring smile. “Lois-san found me shortly I arrived here and sent me to a hospital. I’m doing well.”

“That’s… that’s good.”

Hinata eyed the young blonde worriedly. The mens’ revelations about Luthor had compelled Neji and the others to reluctantly cooperate. Neji, currently, had left with the green archer man to Gotham to find Sakura and the others, while Shino had left with another team to attack the facility Naruto had been held at. (They’d found it through some velocity calculation and other factors… Hinata didn’t quite understand).

Sai had remained behind. It was quietly understood among the ninjas that this was to prevent a hostage situation. If they did manage to find their friends, Neji would have Sakura, Lee, and Chouji to back him up. Shino would have Tenten, Shikamaru, and Kiba (Naruto had said the third didn’t feel like Kiba, but who else could it be?). Thus, if their new “allies” turned on them, the only weak point was at the Tower, where they had only two kunoichi and a burnt-out Naruto. And Sai.

Anyway, that was the plan. But when the rookies had all turned to go, Naruto’s hand had reached out and grabbed hers. So Hinata, instead of staying with Sai and Ino like she was supposed to, had instead stayed here, with Naruto.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Naruto’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“I’m sure.” She smiled.

“M’sorry. I just… I just need to… to make sure. It’s important that I protect my friends and I…” he swallowed and looked away a moment. “I’ve lost so many friends already, Hinata. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost another.”

“I… I understand, Naruto-kun.” Hinata looked down, trying to hide her disappointment. Of course. Naruto was always worried about his friends.

Eyes simply staring off into space, Naruto continued as if he hadn’t heard. “I need to protect them.” He said softly. “I don’t get very many, so I need to watch the few I… but I can’t.” Voice sinking to a whisper, his head drooped down. “I can’t protect them.”

Snapping out of her disappointment, Hinata gazed at him, wide-eyed.

“It just…” Naruto stared at his hands and clenched them. “I just don’t get it. I keep training and training so I can protect my friends, my precious people, and yet… It’s never enough. I wasn’t powerful enough to stop Sasuke, I wasn’t powerful enough to save Jiraiya-sensei, and I wasn’t even there when all of you fought Sasuke.” His hands were shaking. “All that power… that stupid fox in my belly, and I couldn’t do a thing to protect any of you…”

“Naruto-kun…”

“And now we’re stuck on some other world, and… and...” Groaning, Naruto clutched his head in his hands. “And half my friends are in serious danger and I don’t even know where they are!”

“I’m sure Neji-san will find Sakura and the others.” Hinata tried to comfort him. He must be worried about her.

“If Luthor and his men don’t find them first. And Luthor already HAS Kiba, Shikamaru, and Tenten.” Voice rising, Naruto gestured angrily with his arms. “I just… I just feel so HELPLESS! I don’t know anything about this world and my friends are in danger and I can’t do a thing about it!”

He felt a hand rest on his arm and he looked up into Hinata’s warm white eyes. “Naruto…” she murmured. “Do you know why Sai said we should go to attack Sasuke ourselves? Without telling you?” At Naruto’s wordless shake of his head she continued. “It was because he felt you took too much on yourself. He felt like you were taking the burden of all of us on your own shoulders. He didn’t want you to feel you had to do that.” Her gaze narrowed slightly. “NONE of us wanted you to feel that way. That’s why we did it.”

Naruto looked confused. “But… I didn’t…”

“Naruto… Shikamaru’s not stupid. He’ll take care of Tenten and Kiba.” Hinata reminded him. “And Sakura, Lee, and Chouji have all grown up too. They should be fine. You need to stop always worrying about them. I—We are your friends, Naruto. We don’t want you always worrying about us.”

Naruto closed his eyes and swallowed. “I know.” He said. “But I… I feel like I can’t help it. Have you ever… It’s like… you’re standing there, knowing that a friend of yours is in danger and you just… you can’t HELP but worry about them. You know? Even if it’s selfish of you, you can’t just… you need to help. You need to do something.”

“Yes.” Hinata closed her eyes, a little sadly. “I know.”

Struck by her tone, Naruto looked over and studied her expression. He bit his lip momentarily as if contemplating something, then spoke again, in a curiously quiet voice.

“You know… I never did… say thank you.”

Hinata looked up, her eyes wide and nervous. “F-f-for wh-wh-what, Naruto-kun?”

“For what you did. You know, against Pain.”

Blood rushed into Hinata’s head. It pounded in her ears, throbbed against her temple. No, no, no, no, NO! She’d known this was coming, yearned for it, dreaded it, knew it had to happen sometime, but not now, not NOW!

“I just… I just didn’t know how to handle it at first.” Naruto continued. “I mean… I never thought I’d ever hear anyone… it just seemed so unreal. So I didn’t want to talk to you… in case… y’know, I’d just imagined the whole thing.” He laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. “After all, I went Kyuubi shortly after—the whole thing was a little fuzzy in my head.”

Hinata stared at him, trembling slightly.

“But that’s no excuse.” Naruto continued softly. “No excuse at all.” He looked up. “Hinata…”

The door banged open with a beautiful clamor and Hinata nearly flew around in hopes of an escape. The dark-skinned man stood there, looking slightly embarressed.

“Can you give us a hand a quick second?” He asked. “There’s something wrong with the blonde girl.”

I will have to reevaluate the power level of these individuals. Shino thought as he watched the red-caped man smash through the mountain side. Such a power level renders our situation increasingly precarious. Any future interaction with them will have to be handled with great care.

It was not simply the power of the single man in front of him that made Shino uneasy, it was those of their companions. Shino had privately considered twelve to be far too inadequate for an assault on a military position, but events had caused him to re-assess that judgment. His companions spouted fire from their arms, wielded incredible weaponry, moved at amazing speeds (for non-ninja), and exhibited immense strength. One was even riding a flying horse, of all things.

However,it seemed that the incredibly power of his (temporary) allies had been wasted. They had found the complex described by Naruto, but it was completely empty. Obviously, it’s former inhabitants had considered immediate flight expedient upon Naruto’s forcible removal from the facility. How or where they had left, however, neither Shino nor the others could discover.

Currently, Shino was inspecting one of the “rooms” in which he suspected Naruto and the others had been imprisoned. Given Naruto’s account and the destruction just outside of the room, he judged it to have been Shikamaru’s. He peered up the hole in the roof and tapped his feet idly on the rubble. This obviously required a being of great strength. He mused.

Feeling a sudden prescence at his elbow, he turned to face the man in the red cape—Superman, he reminded himself.

“Anything?” asked the man.

Shino shook his head. “My allies have been unable to trace any noticeable chakra signatures in the facility.” He answered, still staring up at the hole. “Tell me, is this man Luthor exceptionally strong?”

“Not… normally.” Superman shrugged. “But he’s found ways to enhance his strength before. And he often hires metas.”

“Metas?” frowned Shino. Thanks to the strange encyclopedia in his head, he understood the term, but he didn’t see how it applied.

“Hm? Oh. People with unusual abilities, like me and you. Luthor himself doesn’t have any powers, but he hires plenty of people who do.”

Similar to a kekkai genkai. Shino nodded thoughtfully. It still didn’t make sense, though. There had been a very powerful man here, most definitely. But Naruto said he’d sensed the chakra source appear behind him. How had that happened? This was a straight hallway, Naruto would already have destroyed anyone in the area behind him. Then too, there were no signs of the man’s approach. It seemed as though he’d simply appeared right behind Naruto.

Possible, with shunshin no jutsu. If this man had indeed possessed chakra, it was rather possible that he had employed it. But besides them, who here could use chakra? Moreover, who could use it to expel Naruto, an S-level nin in his own right?

Too many questions. No answers.

“Strictly speaking, it’s not a real problem.” Mr. Terrific explained to the white-eyed girl and her pale-faced companion. “I mean, we can understand you all perfectly well. But just to avoid confusion… well, it’s better if you were all able to speak English.”

Hinata tilted her head, confused. “English?”

“That’s the strange… language we’re speaking in now?” Sai lifted a polite eyebrow. “Very interesting. What do you call the stuff we usually speak?”

“Japanese. Or, in the native tongue, Nihongo.”

“Japanese, Nihongo….” Sai seemed to consider the word. “Very odd.” Shaking his head, he turned a questioning look onto the dark man. “But if we usually are speaking ‘Japanese,’ how can we understand this ‘English’ that we are speaking now?”

Mr. Terrific indicated the Martian beside him. “That’s because of J’onn here. He planted the knowledge inside your heads while most of you were asleep.”

Sai nodded, apparently satisfied, but Hinata was not so easily put off. “What are you all talking about? What’s wrong with Ino?”

“Well… that’s just it.” Mr Terrific cast a glance at the blonde in the chair, who was glancing from side to side in confusion. For some reason, her face cleared whenever the white-eyed girl spoke. “For some reason, J’onn can’t plant the information in her head.”

“Why is that?”

Rolling his eyes, Mr. Terrific let out a huff of frustration. “That’s what I’d like to know.” He turned on the Martian. “J’onn, why can’t you simply explain what’s stopping you from going in there and helping the poor girl?”

Shifting about, J’onn threw the scientist an apologetic glance. “I just… can’t.”

The other’s eyes narrowed. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“…both,” admitted the Martian.

Here the blonde girl broke in. “Ano hitotachi wa nani o itteirundesuka? <What are they saying?>” She asked, eyes darting from Sai to Hinata. Obviously she had not understood the previous conversation.

The boy sighed. “Aoi hito-san wa Ino-san ni shaberi o oshieru ga dekinai sou desu <The blue/green man is not able to teach you how to talk>.”

“Ino-chan, can’t you understand them?” asked Hinata, eyeing her friend with increasing worry.

"Iya, zenzen wakarimasen <No, I don't understand at all>.” The girl shook her head emphaticly.

Mr. Terrific’s eyes narrowed.

“But... how is that possible...?"  Hinata seemed utterly flabbergasted.  "You can understand me, can't you?"

"Demo…<But...>” The girl cocked her head, apparently puzzled by the question. “Hinata-chan no shaberi wa zenzen chigaimasu <you're not talking like them at all.>"

Hinata blinked. “What?"

Sai’s eyes were large and apprehensive. "Hinata-san,” said he carefully, “chigai o kidzuiteirun desu ka? <Can you notice any difference?> Koushite hanaseba to, <From when I speak like this to...>” He switched languages suddenly, “…when I speak like this?  Any difference?"

Hinata stared at him for a long second. Then she shook her head. “No... Sai-san, is this some kind of joke?”

“One moment.” Mr. Terrific broke in, addressing the pale-eyed girl. "Did you understand what we were talking about earlier, about English and Japanese?"

“So this whole time, you’ve been hearing us all speak in the same language?”

Puzzled, Hinata stared up at him with doubtful eyes. “…haven’t we?”

Sai, Ino, and J’onn were now all staring at the girl, but Mr. Terrific had one more theory he wanted to test out. “You.” He pointed at Sai. “If Ino can understand her, what language has she been speaking in this whole time?”

Sai blinked. “Just normally… Japanese.”

"Interesting." Mr. Terrific took a deep breath. “From my perspective, she's been speaking English since she first got here.” Suddenly noticing an apprehensive expression on J’onn’s face, he turned to him. “What is it?” he asked, a sinking feeling in his chest.

J’onn coughed a little awkwardly. “Well… I hadn’t really noticed it before… it was just so natural… but….” he coughed again. “I’ve been hearing her speak in Martian this entire time.”

Sai, Mr. Terrific, and Hinata all stared. “Martian?” Mr. Terrific asked. “Seriously?”

“Not just Martian, but—now that I think about it—a particular dialect of Martian that was spoken in the region where I grew up,” added J’onn helpfully.

“What’s Martian?” asked Hinata in a small voice.

Ino had been glancing about in confusion again. "Sai-san, ittai nani ga okotteirundesuka? <Sai, what's going on?>"

Sai , without responding, picked up a pencil from the table, and, before either adult could stop him, stabbed it into his hand. He stared at the blood dripping from his palm, withdrew the pencil, examined the bloody tip, and slowly shook his head. "Shirimasen. <I don't know.>" He muttered.

"...That would make two of us."  Terrific agreed, eyes going from the boy's bleeding hand to the two girls.

"Three."  J'onn frowned.

Four or five, Terrific thought, seeing the look on Hinata's face.  She kept glancing from her friends to the adults, her white eyes large and frightened.

Then, suddenly, her head snapped up and her eyes cleared. Mr. Terrific could not be sure, but for a moment, he thought he saw a tinge of green in them. Raising her hands, she stared at them for a long moment, then walked over to Ino and put out a hesitant hand.

“Hinata-chan? Nani o shiteirun desu ka? <What are you doing?>" asked the blonde hesitantly, as the other girl touched her on the shoulder. “Nani… do you think you’re doing? I don’t see how…” her voice trailed off as she suddenly caught on to something. “I… I…” She looked over to Sai and the others. “What the heck just happened?”

Leaning over, Mr. Terrific asked Sai, “Can she usually do things like that?”

“No.” Sai shook his head, his fingers straying back to the pencil. “No she can’t.”

“Can’t you even talk properly?” Sakura cast a disgusted look over at the woman who lay bound in the corner. Since the woman had woken up about half-an-hour ago, she’d done little except struggle against her bonds and ramble on in that curious jumble of sounds she’d been using. Sakura had hoped to interrogate the woman and perhaps gain a better understanding of their situation, but apparently that would not work in this situation.

If she didn’t know better, Sakura would almost think that the sounds were supposed to mean something. Certainly, the way certain segments were shouted at her implied some sort of intent, and occasionally they could discern her meaning through tone and gestures alone. Perhaps she was delusional, and thought she was speaking normally to them.

Sakura shook her head and returned her attention to the apple in her hand. With Lee and Chouji unable to look at the woman for any extended period of time, it was left to her to guard the prisoner. Unfortunately, not only did she detest said prisoner, the prisoner also seemed to detest her. The two had so far spent their time shouting at one another, conveying intents if not exact meanings.

“What happened to you, anyway?” She threw a casual question at the woman. “I figured we’d have to keep you drugged to keep you from breaking this rope of yours, but for some reason it looks like you’ve lost all your strength.” Studying the woman, she finally decided. “Some kind of time-limit jutsu you used? Can’t get your strength back until you perform it again.” She smirked. “Good luck with that.”

Good luck indeed. They’d tied her arms apart, to prevent her making hand seals, and cut off most of her chakra by painting seals on her arms. Yawning, Sakura leaned back. “Wish we knew how to get word to that Batman friend of yours.”

The woman glanced up sharply at the word, ‘Batman.’ Sakura smirked. “Ah, you understand that word, do you? Good. Do you know how we could talk to this Batman?”

The woman responded with a flow of unintelligible invectives.

“Suit yourself.” Sakura sighed. This was getting old real fast. This prisoner had already caused her to miss out on a perfectly good shopping experience, and subjected her to the choices of Lee, who had been the only conscious person capable of procuring the necessary disguises (although he had heartily protested at the “unyouthfulness” or robbing stores). Sakura considered herself lucky that there were no spandex stores in the area, as it happened, the worst they’d come off with was a series of dark green coveralls.

Unfortunately, as Lee had no concept of size, the clothes were far too tight on Chouji, and far too big on Sakura. Once again she devoted a frown to the voluminous folds of her garment. She had rolled up the sleeves and the trouser legs, but nothing could keep the middle from sagging hopelessly about her frame. Only a stout belt, tightly fastened around her waist, kept the whole from falling off.

I look fat in this. Sakura decided. Or gangly. No, I definitely look gangly. “And it’s all your fault!” She added to the prisoner.

A rush of steps at the entryway announced Lee’s arrival. “Sakura-san!” he cried, rushing in. “Chouji says…” he caught sight of the woman and quickly turned, blushing. “Chouji says,” he continued, speaking to the wall, “that he can see a group of people leaping across the roofs toward us.”

“Drat.” Sakura got to her feet. While they had the woman as a hostage, they were still at something of a disadvantage. Sakura hadn’t had time to rig the building with traps yet, and it could be easily surrounded.

Still, it would have to do. Striding over, Sakura grabbed the bound woman and hauled her upright. “Come on.” She said, to Lee and the woman collectively. “Let’s go meet our visitors.”

At the door, Sakura and Lee were greeted by a faceoff between a tense Chouji and a bearded archer on the roof. “We… come… in… peace…” The man was saying, in a halting fashion, as if he was just learning the words. “We mean… you… no harm.”

Sakura snorted. “Yeah right. Lee, get up there and… Lee? Lee!”

“YOSH!” Lee suddenly exploded. “My youthful comrade! Your costume displays the vigor and fire of youth!” He gave the man a swift bow. “You appear to be a worthy adversary! I am Rock Lee, the handsome green beast of Konoha! Yosh! By what youthful name are you known?”

His costume? Glancing over, Sakura suppressed a groan. Green. Green Spandex. What were the odds of us fighting somebody dressed in green spandex?

Fortunately, the green-clad archer seemed just as bewildered as she. “Uhhhhhh….” He blinked at the boy, scratched his head, looked over his shoulder at somebody, then repeated mechanically. “We come… in peace. We mean you… no harm.”

“Sure you don’t.” Sakura pushed their prisoner to the front and forced her to her knees, drawing a kunai as she did so. “That’s why you sent the night hawk after us, right?”

The appearance of the woman had a striking effect on the man. He started back, uttering a few choice words of gibberish. Other figures appeared on the ridge of the building, apparently curious as to the commotion. They too, did a double take and began to spout the nonsenical phrases.

They’re ALL wearing spandex? Sakura frowned. What is WITH this place?

Suddenly the woman at her feet spoke, apparently in response to some questions the green archer had been asking. The gibberish went back and forth, with increasing disbelief being shown from the woman. It seemed the green archer had moved on to telling her something which she either disbelieved or disliked.

“That’s enough!” Sakura pulled hard on the rope and put a kunai to the woman’s neck. “No more talking!”

The circle of people fell dead silent at her move. In the second it’d taken her to move, the archer had nocked an arrow to the string and pointed it straight at her. He’s fast. She realized.

“Don’t try anything! My arm can move faster than any of you can.” Except that arrow. But at this angle, she should be enough in my way that he can’t get a clear shot. “We want our teammate back, and we want him now.”

Licking his lips, the green archer replied. “We come in peace. We mean…”

“Oh, enough already!” Sakura screamed. “Where’s your Batman, and where’s Neji?”

“I’m right here, Sakura-san.”

Sakura, Lee, and Chouji blinked in surprise as Neji’s pale form came into sight atop the building.

“We checked the whole facility. No sign of him or his supplies.” Glancing around the room, Superman could see various expressions: disappointment, weariness, chagrin… but no surprise.  All of them—Batman, Mr. Terrific, J’onn, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Flash, and even Waller from the governement—had known he’d be gone.

“How’d they get out?”

Superman shook his head. “No idea. A group that size should’ve been obvious, but we can’t find anything. There’s a hangar bay, and a motor pool, so they had cars and airplanes, but neither radar nor satellite footage from the last three hours shows anything leaving.”

“Three hours.” There was grudging admiration in Mr. Terrific’s voice. “To move all that equipment and material in three hours, and to do it without any sign… the man’s an organizational genius.”

From her spot at the far end of the table, Amanda Waller snorted. “It’s not that hard. You supers aren’t as all-seeing as you might think, Cadmus was able to relocate within half-an-hour of your initial attack on our facility.”

“And we were able to find you again half-an-hour later.” Batman grunted.

“You were. Not the League.” She pointed out. “There’s an important difference.”

Ignoring Batman’s snort, Hawkgirl cleared her throat. “Hate to break up the party, but am I the only one bothered by the fact that Luthor is somehow still alive, when he ought to be dead?”

“No.” Superman turned. “You’re not the only one. Something is dead wrong about this. I SAW him die, I was right there when he and Darkseid just… disappeared, there’s no way he could have…”

Batman was shaking his head. “You always think that. I never believed he was dead.”

“Bats, you’re paranoid,” replied Flash, shooting the crimefighter a smirk. “You never think ANYONE is dead.”

A shrug. “They never are.”

“Well, one way or another, Luthor’s alive, and apparently he has three of our dimensional visitors,” sighed Superman, unwilling to pursue the topic any further. “We’ve taken the one we found at the tower—we’ll detain him here—and we still have the six others. Green Arrow is trying to find the other three Batman met…”

“He’s made contact.” J’onn interrupted. “Incidently, he’s also found Wonder Woman, it appears the three were able to trap her somehow.”

“What’s her status?” asked Batman.

“She’s unharmed. They were using her as a hostage, but the one we sent with them—Neji—is defusing the situation. According to Green Arrow, they should be able to convince them to return.”

Superman nodded. “Good. So that makes nine—ten, actually—of the seventeen we need.”

“Question.” Waller raised a hand. “What exactly do you intend to do with them? I gather from Miss Lane that they’re not to stay here anymore.”

Superman looked distinctly uncomfortable. “We’ll figure that out later. In the meantime, we need to focus on rescuing the three Luthor has and capturing the two rogues out on the run.”

“Hang on a sec.” Frowning, Flash raised a hand. “I’m not that good with numbers but I think… if we have TWO rogues, and THREE prisoners, plus TEN visitors here at the tower, that brings us…” he counted on his fingers, “…only to fifteen.” He glanced up. “Weren’t there supposed to be sixteen of these guys?”

“Seventeen.” Batman closed his eyes. “And a dog. Yes, Flash, we’re still missing some. It can’t take long, we’ll find them.”

“Q.” said Huntress, in a deceptively sweet voice. “Would you mind telling me why there’s a half-naked teenager tied up in your apartment?”

Question did not look up from his computer. “Research.”

“Huh. And what kind of ‘research’ are we talking about here?”

“Investigation into that which society wants hidden. Secrets. The dark happenings of the night.” Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Question added. “Research into the questions that most are unwilling to ask.”

Huntress’s eyes narrowed. “Is this more of your usual mumbo-jumbo or is there something you need to tell me?”

“Not mumbo-jumbo. Fact. The answers to the questions are there, if you choose to see them. You cannot avert your eyes from the truth.”

“Just tell me why he’s in his boxers.”

Glancing upwards at last, Question noted that his girlfriend seemed upset for some reason. Still, he might as well answer. “Because I took off his pants.”

“Aaaand… WHY did you do that?” There was a dangerous glint in her eye.

“To examine the weave.” He indicated the trousers laid across the table and the magnifying glass next to it. “Already cross-referenced geometric pattern with Stonehenge algorithms without results, now examining possible connections to the Zoroastrians apocalyptic sequence. Also trying to determine what brand of polyester.”

“Oh.” His girlfriend’s face cleared. “That’s… good. Sorry, for a second there I thought you were up to something weird.”

Question’s faceless brow wrinkled in confusion. “Why would you think that?”

“Well… it’s just… I wasn’t exactly expecting to see something like… that when I walked in just now.” She walked up to the desk and seated herself on it. “It’s… kinda extreme. And it’s not really normal for you to take prisoners here.”

“This isn’t a normal prisoner,” replied Question, returning his attention to the screen.

“Really.” Huntress glanced back toward the door. “Where’d you find him?”

“Here in Hub City. He killed three full-grown men with only a few knives. When questioned, he revealed that he was an operative—ninja, he says—of a paramilitary organization. I have reason to believe he may have been teleported here, which means he is part of the Mayan hair-salon collective. He only speaks Japanese,” Question added absentmindedly. “Curious, might perhaps indicate a connection between the Mayans and the Tokugawa Shogunate.”

“Huh,” said Huntress, barely listening. Then, slowly, things began to click in her head. Japanese, ninja, unusual fighting skills, paramilitary organization, teleportation…

“Q, where’s your League communicator?”

“Turned it off,” came the reply. “Can’t deal with League right now, work too important. Close to a breakthrough, might mean the exposure of the Illuminati, the…”

“Give me your communicator, NOW!” Huntress snapped. “And for goodness sake, get in there and get the pants back on that kid, you don’t want to freak out the rest of the League more than you have already.”

“I told you, this isn’t League business.” Question protested, moving to collect the garments anyway. “Affairs of the Illuminati, they wouldn’t believe me, not until…”

Rolling her eyes, Huntress sighed. “Q, what you’ve got in there is definitely League business. They’ve been looking for that guy for the past two days. Honestly, you gotta know it’s bad when I have a better idea of what the League’s doing than you do.”

Lee and Chouji at her side, Sakura followed Neji out the door. Sakura threw a final glare at the woman as she stepped from the shuttle. She didn’t care if everyone here did dress in spandex, that lady still got on her nerves. At least she got the satisfaction of receiving a glare in return.

Of course, there WAS the fact that they were now stepping into a whole fortress filled with said annoying lady’s friends. Sakura shivered, and for a moment she halted. For some reason, it felt oddly comfortable to feel Lee bump into her shoulder and apologize, reminding her of his prescence. She wasn’t alone here. She still had Lee, and Chouji, and Neji (even if he was acting funny).

And, if Neji was to be believed, she also had the rest of her friends here.

So as she walked out of the hangar and into the anteroom, flanked by Chouji and Lee, preceded by Neji, and surrounded by several spandex-clad individuals, it was an intense relief for her to behold Ino, Hinata, Naruto, Shino, and Sai all waiting there for her. Sure, Naruto looked incredibly beaten up, and Sai’s one hand was a mass of bloody bandages, but they were there.

And they were safe. They were all safe.

Sakura dashed away from Lee and Chouji, ahead of Neji, and gave Hinata and Ino a bone-crushing hug. Behind her she could hear the boys greeting each other, asking questions, slapping each other on the back, and generally relaxing.

“Shikamaru? Tenten? Kiba? Kakashi-sensei?” She whispered to the two others.

Ino shook her head. “Shikamaru and Tenten were captured by someone else. We don’t know yet about Kiba and Kakashi-sama.”

“Guys!” A fresh voice broke into the circle and an excited Kiba leapt in. “Guys, you’re here! You’re really here! Sonuva… I was starting to think I was the only one stuck in this crazy world!”

“I am relieved to meet you as well.”

“Yosh!”

“Kiba! Dude! You look like crap!

A cough interrupted the boys reunion, and the group turned around. There, standing before them, was a tall, dark-haired man in a long red cape and bright red boots.

And blue spandex. With red underwear.

Seriously, what was WITH this world?

“I’m sure you’re all very glad to meet each other.” He said carefully. “And I know you all have a lot to catch up on, but first… I think we both have some explaining to do.”

Chapter Text

                Several hours later, ten very confused Konoha nins filed out of one of the JLU’s briefing rooms.  They said nothing, and each one of them was obviously very concentrated.  Naruto, in the lead, seemed to be pacing almost mechanically with no clear desitination in mind, and the others simply followed him.  Though a few heroes sent them puzzled and even hostile glances as they passed, none tried to stop them… the word had been sent out.

                Halfway across the emergency hangar toward the medical bay, Naruto finally paused in thought.

                “That.”  He said.  “was pretty weird.”

                “Well, thank you all for meeting like this.”  The caped man offered a nervous smile to the entire table.  “I realize we’re not all on the best of terms, but hopefully we can straighten everything out and figure out what’s going on.”

                Naruto didn’t know if he shared the man’s optimism.  For some reason, Sakura and the one lady at the table seemed to have a death-feud of some kind going on, and the rest of the table wasn’t doing much better.    Neji, Chouji, and especially Lee were all glaring at the stretcher-bound man (Sakura was doing that too, but she seemed more focused on the woman); and Kiba kept nervously glancing around and growling at anyone who came too close.  The only really relaxed people seemed to be Shino, who was being, well, Shino, and Hinata, who was glancing at dark-haired lady at the end of the table.  Sai seemed fairly relaxed too, but something about the way he was twirling that pencil around his fingers bothered Naruto.

                With a cough, the caped man recalled their attention. “First of all, I’m Superman, one of the founding members of the Justice League, and protector of Metropolis.”   He turned to Naruto at this juncture.  “For starters, I’d like to apologize for the battle we had earlier.  I acted hastily, but your attack on Stargirl and the others convinced me you were hostile.” 

                Feeling a trifle embarressed, Naruto rubbed the back of his head.  Now that he had learned more of the situation, the whole incident was horribly awkward.  How he could have thought the girl was shouting out a jutsu when he hadn’t even understood her…  Naruto silently vowed (for the twentieth time) to think more before he started blowing things up.

Apparently encouraged by his expression, Superman continued, “I suppose an ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t quite cover my beating you to an inch of your life, but if you…”

“It’s okay.”  Naruto interrupted, hoping to get past the issue already.  “You’d be surprised how often that sort of thing happens.”

Superman blinked, taken off guard “Well… thank you.  We’ll proceed then with giving you guys some background.”  Nodding to one of the others, he sat back down.

The dark-skinned man rose and pressed a button on his wrist.  Instantly a glowing orb appeared above the table, it’s green-blue surface glowing faintly in the dim room.  Naruto eyed the man with reverence.  He must be QUITE a ninja to pull off even a minor genjutsu like that without any hand seals whatsoever.

 “This,” said the man, “is Earth.  You are currently in the nation of the United States…” the image zoomed in, “in the state of New York…” again it zoomed in,  “in the city of Metropolis.”  One final zoom brought the city into focus.  “The building you are currently in is called the Metro Tower, one of two facilities the Justice League operates.”

Huh?

“Metropolis” Naruto understood, thanks to Hinata and a few other talks he’d had.  “New York” was a new one to him, as was “United States.”  But what really threw him off was this “Earth” idea.

They were ON that globe?  As in, the ground they were standing on was part of some giant ball floating somewhere?  And they calle d it EARTH?  “Earth” was the name of a minor country, not of some… weird… ballish thing with a bunch of people living on it. 

Shino, apparently,was interested in something completely different.  “And what is this ‘Justice League’?”

“Ah…”  Superman rose again.  “THAT is a question.”

                “They… seem like nice people,”  ventured Hinata.

                “As Ino has observed, that tends to be your appraisal of most people.”  Shino adjusted his glasses.  “While certainly they do not appear to have any hostile motives, that does not mean that their profession of good will was made in good faith.”

                Sai inclined his head in agreement.  “When determining enemies, one must look at allegiances rather than attitudes. ‘ Nice’ or otherwise, they were very evasive about questions of who they worked for or who funded them.”

                “They said that’s ‘cause they’re not tied to any government,” blinked Naruto.  “Like, they try to keep out of politics and stuff.”

                With a snort, Neji shook his head.  “That only makes it worse.  It makes them a loose association of missing nins, very similar in organization to Akatsuki.” 

                “Oh c’mon, Neji, these guys aren’t terrorists they’re working for peace.”

                “So was Akatsuki, in their own way.”  Naruto fell silent at that, and Neji continued.  “These men answer to no one but themselves, and thus are doubly untrustworthy.  Today they may feel like allowing us freedom and assistance; tomorrow they may decide to extract all the information they can from us.  After all, it was just yesterday we were all prisoners.  We cannot remain safe so long as we rely on their goodwill.”

                Sakura gave a short nod.  “I’m with the others on this one, Naruto.  Sorry, but it looks like you’re outvoted.”

                “Fine.”  Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced away irritably.  “So what do you guys suggest?”

                “We make our way back to Konoha.”  Sai shrugged.

                “Oh?  And how do we do that?”  An uncomfortable silence greeted this question.  “You heard what they said in there.  Even if you don’t believe everything they said, that part was pretty clear.  We’re stuck here, for a while at least.  They might be able to help us get back.”

                “Perhaps.”  Shino said, somewhat coldly.  “But perhaps they might not be able to, and our chances are at least as good as theirs.”

                “Better, actually.”  Sakura arched her eyebrows.  “We know more about the teleportation and our ‘powers’ as they call them, are better suited to replicate the sequence than theirs are.  We can probably figure it out sooner working on our own.”

Naruto huffed but let the subject drop.  Surprisingly, though, Hinata had a question of her own.  “Wh-what d-do we d-d-do while we’re waiting?”

“Hm?  What do you mean?”  Chouji asked.

“W-well…”  Hinata toyed with her fingers a little.  “I-it’s going t-to t-take us a wh-while to f-f-figure all that stuff out.  W-what do we do until we do?  I-I mean… we don’t really know much about this world.  Wh-where are we going to stay?  What are we going to do?”

“That’s…. a good question.”  Frowning, Sakura chewed on her lip.  “It’s not like we can just reinvent the jutsu overnight.”

Ino nodded.  “We need to find Shikamaru and Tenten  before we can return to Konoha too.  How are we going to do that?”

“That’s a matter we can handle ourselves,” shrugged Neji.  “As for what to do… well, I imagine we can find some sort of facility to occupy, raise money through various contracts and missions.  Not terribly difficult.  It may take some adjusting, but it wouldn’t be too difficult.”

Naruto shook his head.  “That won’t work.  For one, that Luthor guy is still out there, and he might be after the rest of us.  We need to know how this world works in order to stay ahead of him.  Also…” he hesitated for a moment, “…call me crazy, but I don’t think these JLU guys would like the whole idea of us setting up a mini-ninja village in the area.”

“True.”  Neji frowned.

There was a moment of silence as everyone mulled that over.  Finally, Naruto spoke up.  “Well, we’ve still got some time to figure that out.  I guess I see why you guys don’t want to stay here, but keep in mind we’ll need some kind of plan for once they let us out.” 

He glanced at the nods he received.  “Okay, tell you what.  For now, at least, there’s no need to be antsy about kidnap attempts.  Let’s split up, see what we can learn from the people here, and meet back here in a few hours.  Then we can compare notes and decide where to go from there.”

“Be careful, all of you.”  Neji warned.  “We still don’t completely understand these people.”

 “S-so  y-you’re kinda like ninjas,” said the pale-eyed girl.  “Ninjas protect the civilians from other ninjas, because the civilians can’t use chakra properly.  It’s why we form villages  B-but…”  Hesitantly, she paused “…you’re not bound to any village, are you?”

 “You’re like some kind of global ninja alliance?”  The blonde blinked. 

Superman glanced to J’onn for confirmation, still unsure as to what exactly these ‘ninja villages’ were like.  After a moment of hesitation, J’onn nodded.

“That’s awesome!” grinned the blonde.

“Uh… thanks.”  This blonde was turning out to be their easiest customer.  “Well… in that role as a global alliance, it’s our job to deal with… well, extra-global matters.  Things outside the earth, if you understand me.”  A quick glance showed him that they didn’t.  “You know, like outer space?  Aliens?”

“What’re aliens?”  The tattooed boy wrinkled his nose in confusion.

“Perhaps a better example would be extra-dimensional matters.”  Batman’s gravelly voice cut in.  “Like the one we’re in now.”

“Yes!  Yes, exactly.”  Almost sighing with relief, Superman turned matters over to his friend.  “Bats, seeing as this is your field, would you…”

Batman grunted.  “Suppose I might as well.”  Ignoring the glares levied at him, he raised his stretcher enough to survey the table properly.  “By now, I imagine you understand the concept of different dimensions and alternate realities.  What you don’t know is our history with these matters.”  He clicked a few buttons on the side of his stretcher and a frighteningly familiar set of faces popped into view.   “Multiple dimensions were first confirmed by the arrival of Mr. Mxyzptlk in Metropolis in 2001.  Parallel realities were validated several months later by Lois Lane’s insertion into an alternate Metropolis.”

From his position at the head of the table, Superman could see Lois looking unusually smug and—for some reason—somewhat dreamy-eyed.  Hinata, the pale-eyed girl, was looking at her with reverence.

“The Justice League first dealt with alternate universes in the affair of the Justice Lords.”

That brought a reaction from everyone except the kids.  All of the founding members—Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, J’onn, Wonder Woman, and even Flash—looked suddenly ill at the mention of the twisted versions of themselves. The self-appointed “Guardian of the Guardians,” Green Arrow, chewed the end of his mustache nervously.   Lois merely looked uncomfortable, as she’d only dealt with the Superman Lord cursorily, but Amanda Waller had an expression of quiet bitterness.  Cadmus had partly been built out of fear that the League might become the Lords.  Even Terrific seemed vaguely uneasy.

Why did Bruce have to bring up THAT, of all things?

The answer came without the question being spoken.  Because Bruce, despite whatever he said, still felt the danger of the Justice Lords, and wanted to remind the League not to get carried away with their own power.  Which, Superman realized suddenly, was kinda what this whole thing was about.  The League had overstepped their authority in acting against the Konoha nins.  Thus Batman’s statement was doubly relevant, and, in a way, his own recognition of the mistake he’d made.

Superman grinned unexpectedly.  It was probably as close as Bruce would ever come to an apology, but it was still something.

“The Justice Lords succeeded in capturing the seven members of the Justice League active at the time, and proceeded to occupy Earth.  Fortunately the disaster was averted, and for quite some time the League had little extra-dimensional contact.  Then came the arm.”  Batman pressed a few more keys on the table and the infamous mouthed hand appeared floating above the table.  “The arm appeared on July 10^th, 2007, at…”

“Hey!”  The blonde boy—Naruto, Superman reminded himself—had jumped to his feet and was pointing at the arm.  “That’s Deidara’s!”

Batman paused and Superman glanced up.  “Deidara?”

Glancing up, the pink-haired girl studied the arm momentarily and nodded.  “Hey, you’re right, it is.  Didn’t Kakashi-sensei destroy it, though?”

“I thought he did.”  Naruto turned on Batman.  “Where’d you guys get it from?”

Batman’s eyes had narrowed, he was obviously very interested in this boy’s account.  “We found it on top of a building in Metropolis.  It appeared there shortly after a massive explosion at JLU headquarters.  Who was this Deidara, and what does your sensei have to do with him?”

“Deidara?  He was this creepy Akatsuki dude, made little animals out of exploding clay and blew stuff up.”  Pointing at the arms, Naruto continued, “he had those… mouths on his hands to chew and mold the clay for him.”

“I see.”  Batman nodded, his face perfectly serious.  “And how did he lose this one?”

Naruto shrugged.  “Kakashi-sensei used some eye jutsu on it and teleported it to another dimension.  He meant to get all of Deidara but he hadn’t yet… OH!”

Naruto’s eyes had suddenly gotten very large and wide.  Apparently sharing his realization, the pink-haired girl’s hand flew to her mouth.  The other nins looked somewhat puzzled for a moment, and then, slowly, comprehension dawned.

Superman let out a breath he’d been holding for the last three days.  “Well now… THAT explains a lot.”

                “So their dimensional trip was completely accidental, probably due to something their teacher did.”  The nins were no longer in the briefing room, but the League heroes still had matters to discuss  Currently, Superman was thinking out loud and staring at his fingertips.  “So we finally have an explanation as to how they got here.”

                Green Lantern nodded.  “It’s a little thin, but it fits.  Using experimental weaponry in a battlefield situation explains their story, their condition, and their overall disorientation.  And it makes a lot more sense than a bunch of highly trained soldiers stumbling into a random portal somehow.”

                “It’s a different method of teleportation, though.  No physical portal, just some kind of meta ability their sensei can use with his eye.”  Batman frowned.  “Very atypical.  Don’t think we’ve ever seen that before.”

                “Incidently, the fact that their teacher triggered the portal with his eye implies that he would be unable to teleport himself.  That means we may be one off on our count of dimensional visitors.”  Mr. Terrific pointed out.

                “Right.  So with the Kiba boy that Question had—remind me to talk to him, by the way—that brings us to…”  Superman blinked.  “…well, I guess that accounts for all of them, actually.  So we finally have a good idea of what is happening.”

                “Except for the dog.”  Green Arrow reminded helpfully.

                “AND Luthor.”  Hawkgirl growled.

                “Right, except for Luthor.”  Superman sank back into gloom.  “That part still makes no sense.”

                “It’s not like his death made much sense to begin with.”  Batman pointed out.

“Pardon me for interrupting.”  Waller coughed.  “But what are you all talking about?”

                The members around the League table glanced at each other, before finally Superman sighed and leaned forward.  “As you know,” he said, “about a year ago, Luthor attempted to ressurect Brainiac and instead ressurected Darkseid, ruler of Apokolips.  He promptly invaded Earth in retaliation of my interference with his actions.”

                “What exact interference?”  Waller’s eyes narrowed.  She knew the story of Darkseid’s invasion, but not the reason behind it.

                “Darkseid was attempting to use Brainiac to acquire something called ‘the Anti-Life equation.’”  Batman explained.  He had the attention of most of the room, only the founding members had participated in the Apokolips affair. “Roughly speaking, it’s a mathematical equation that proves life is meaningless and hence grants the owner complete control over the universe.”

                Mr. Terrific snorted.  “Because math totally works that way.”

                “Yes… well,” Superman cast a glance at the scientist.  “He had been trying to do that, and I destroyed both him and Brainiac.  Hence, when Luthor tried to ressurrect Brainiac, he got Darkseid instead, whose first action was to attack Earth.  As you know, Luthor joined Batman and I in the assault on Darkseid’s flagship.”

                “Yes.”  Waller nodded.  “According to my understanding, you fought him to a standstill before being trapped by something called an ‘agony matrix.’  After which, Luthor showed up and defeated him, but died in the process.”  Quirking an eyebrow, she added, “I must confess I’ve always been curious as to why he was the only one able to defeat him.  To be honest, I figured you killed Darkseid and Batman killed Luthor, but you both came up with the story to hide it.”

                Superman closed his eyes, but Batman appeared unpreturbed.  “Good idea, but not the case.  Luthor disappeared from the fight early on, only to return at the end clad in a tuxedo without any weaponry whatsoever.”

                “And he defeated Darkseid like that.”  Quirking an eyebrow, Waller commented, “You’re not really adding much to your story’s credibility here.  Can’t you give me some more details?  I mean, the two of you were THERE, you should know SOMETHING about what happened.”

                Biting back his rage, Superman answered.  “I was a little busy at the time, what with the Agony Matrix and all.  I recall Darkseid saying something about putting my heart on a stake in his throne room.”

                “I was several thousand feet away.”  Batman commented.  “Superman HAD punched Darkseid a sizeable distance, and I’m not as young as I used to be.”  Holding up a hand at Waller’s scoff, he continued, “I can still see pretty well, though.  That, pieced together with what little surveillance footage we could find, gives us a fair idea of what happened.”

                “And that was?”

                Batman smiled without humor.  “A series of things that don’t make any sense.  Luthor simply appeared out of nowhere, clad, as we said, in a tuxedo.   Darkseid was dismissive of him at first, until Luthor revealed what he was carrying.”  As he spoke, Batman frowned in concentration.  “It’s hard to describe, but it appears to have been a shimmering diamond of radiant energy.  At any rate, it fascinated Darkseid, who immediately dropped his torture of Superman and walked straight toward Luthor, putting his hand out to the object.”

                The room was dead silent.  Everyone’s attention was fixated on Batman.  “And then?”  Waller croaked.

                “Then they were surrounded by a whirling field of energy and exploded.”  Superman sighed.  “Batman and I barely managed to get clear.  The only clue we got was the few last words I heard as we were running away.”  His face bending in confusion, Superman shrugged.  “But they don’t make sense either.  Darkseid said ‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it,’ and Luthor agreed, saying ‘Yes, it is.’”

                “Hang on.  You’re telling me the two biggest egomaniacs in the history of… well, EVER, actually aggreed on something?”  Flash cocked a disbelieving eyebrow.

                “And that the most emotionless creature in the cosmos found something beautiful.”  Superman sighed.  “I told you it didn’t make sense.”

                Surprisingly hesitant, Batman spoke up.  “Actually… there is one way it might.”  Seeing everyone’s attention riveted on him, he shrugged irritably.  “I haven’t mentioned this before, but as I said, I saw the battle, and as I DIDN’T say, I can read lips.  I was too far away to catch most of it, but as Luthor revealed the object, he said something along the lines of ‘the only thing you want.’  Given Darkseid’s reaction, he was right.”

                “So?  What does that tell us?”

                Batman grimaced.  “Think about it for a minute, it’ll come to you.  What’s the only thing Darkseid ever really wanted?”

                “Death?”

                “Doom?”

                “Destruction?”

                Grimacing again, Batman lay back on the pillows.  “Sometimes I wonder why I even bother…”

                “Control.”  Superman spoke up, the features of his face working slowly.  “Darkseid wants control.  And the purest incarnation of that control would be…”  His eyes widened.  “You can’t seriously…”

                “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”  Batman’s face was grim.  “The only thing that Darkseid would be interested in or find beautiful.  The Anti-Life equation.”

                “Very interesting,” mused the caped man.  “So your ‘sensei’ used this eye jutsu in battle to remove hazardous objects?”

                Naruto answered with a careless nod.  “Yeah.  He developed it himself.  Pretty useful, because there really wasn’t any way for the opponent to counteract it.  Far too draining to be used often, though.  He…”

                “Yes, yes.”  The man cut him off with a wave.  “Do you remember the kind of things he’s used it on?”

                “Um… Not really.  Just the arm and the explosion.”  Naruto hadn’t really been around for Kakashi’s other battles.

                Surprisingly, Chouji raised his hand.  “When… when our village was… was being invaded by Pain… Kakashi-sama managed to somehow stop a missile shooting at me.  I never really… thought about it, but… I suppose he might have used such a jutsu then.”

                “A missile, you say?  Would it have been preceded by a nail?”

                “Er…”  Chouji looked a trifle flabbergasted.  “I don’t know… maybe?  We were in the middle of a battle, it was kinda hard to tell.”

                “Why do you specifically ask about a nail, Batman-san?”  Shino turned his gaze toward the stretcher-bound man.

                “Because a nail showed up in this world, shortly before the missile did.”  Batman pressed a few more buttons and a new image came into view on the screen.  “Special Agent King Faraday of the United States Government, fomer Liason of the Justice League.  Killed in Washington DC by a NAIL that somehow shot into his throat at a high velocity.”

                “This is the League’s explanation of that event?”  A heavyset woman at the end of the table—Naruto hadn’t caught her name—snorted.  “I was under the impression that we had agreed it was the DC police’s jurisdiction.”

                Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto caught just the faintest twitch of humor around the mouth of a skinny man in a red suit.  “You DO realize you’re talking to Bats, right?  Jurisdiction means about nada.”

                “We did not order the investigation.”  Superman answered the woman, glaring at the stretcher bound man.  “However, I’m not really surprised to find out that Batman looked into it anyway.”

                “I might not have, if it hadn’t been for the missile that materialized a few moments later and crashed into the Washington Monument.”  Batman snorted.  “THAT, at least, was Justice League business.  I considered the two matters connected and labeled them ‘second contact.’”

                “Second contact?”  Neji frowned.

                “The explosion at the JLU Metrotower and the arm discovered on the building were labeled first contact, as I considered they had happened at the same time.  By the time of second contact, I had several of the Justice League sateillites monitoring the earth for dimensional cascade frequencies suggested by analysis of the evidence. One of them picked up the specific frequencies, which allowed me to develop a warning system should any other such contacts occur.”  Returning Neji’s glare, he added.  “Such as you.  Third Contact, I suppose.”

                “You mean to say you were set against these kids before they even landed?”  The thin dark-haired lady at the end of the table screeched.

                Superman massaged his brow.  “Bats, do you ever THINK about telling us what you’re doing?”

                “First contact blew up part of the Metrotower and Second Contact killed the Justice League liason,” frowned Batman.  “It made perfect sense to think any future contacts would be similarly aggressive.  For all I knew, they could have sent a giant flaming arrow through the next one and destroyed the Effiel Tower.”

                “The what?”  Ino blinked.

                 “In any case,are you suggesting it was wrong for me to design the warning system?  If I hadn’t prepared such a protocol, we might have remained unaware of the dispersement and location of our different ‘visitors,’ or even of their arrival.  Certainly it would have been much more difficult to find them, and we might not have guessed the reason for the Titan’s silence until much later.  There’s no telling what this Uchiha Sasuke might have… ”

                Naruto barely heard the ejaculation from Sakura as his head snapped up.

                “Sasuke?”

                The case just didn’t make sense.  A shape-shifter COULDN’T have broken bones, it was literally impossible.  And even supposing he could, he should be just able to move said broken bones back into place, or manipulate the non-broken sections.

Yet after half-an-hour of treatment, Beast Boy could not do any of these things. 

The medical staff had done what they could.  They’d treated the affected sections as they would on an ordinary human.  They’d given him painkillers.  They’d taken X-rays, MRI’s, and CAT scans, but they could find nothing.

 Dr. Jewell reflected that she needed a new line of work.  Sure, medical work for the JLU sounded fun and exciting—life-threatening cases, fascinating opportunities to study some of the most rare conditions in the world, the best help and equipment that money could buy (in addition to one’s own sizeable pay check.)—but most of the time it simply felt frustrating. 

 “Excuse me, Dr. Jewell?  Er…  these… visitors would like to see the patient.”

Glancing behind her assistant, Dr. Jewell caught sight of something VERY odd.  Three teenagers stood a short distance away, viewing the chaotic scene with detached amusement.  Clad neither in the spandex of most Leaguers, nor in the purple coveralls of the staff, they stood out markedly as strangers.  The blonde girl’s purple exposed midriff and skirt were not so unusual—indeed, they vaguely resembled those of the Tamaranian who had been through here earlier—but the pale boy’s outfit was somewhat more bizarre.  How many BOYS wore a short jacket like that?   Not to mention his hand… it was all bandaged up.

The last girl… the last girl was dressed sensibly enough—for ancient Japan, at least—but… her hair.  It was pink.

Seriously, pink hair?

Ah, whatever.  It wasn’t like she had’t seen stranger.  The pink hair probably reflected her ability to shoot flames or something.  So the girl was a meta.  More from the Teen Titans?  These younger heroes didn’t all take to the same spandex-aesthetic that their forebears did.

As she watched, the pink-haired girl (who had a decided air of command about her), glanced about the room and frowned.  “'Nante sobokuna dougu, ne?” she commented to the others.  Then, catching sight of Dr. Jewell, she strode forward.

                “I am Haruno Sakura.”  She offered, with a little bow.  “I would like permission to examine the patient, please.”

                Dr. Jewell blinked.  “I’m sorry?”

                “I may not look it, but I am actually quite a qualified medic in my world.”  A hint of fire came into the girl’s green eyes.  “Though I know this seems irregular, I know the… person who attacked him, and I may be able to shed some new light on the subject.”

                Dr. Jewell considered it a moment.  “Well, I suppose so.”  She stepped aside, reminding herself.  It’s all up for grabs at this point, anyway.  “Gentlemen, the League has sent someone down to look into the matter.” 

                Without so much as a glance, the pink-haired girl strode through the assembled doctors.  She gave a smile to the rather confused Beast Boy, then immediately began diagnosis, feeling for his pulse, glancing down his throat, shining a light into his eyes, and having him cough while she felt his chest.

                Though the girl might be wasting her time, there was no mistaking her efficient, professional manner.  Grinning, Dr. Jewell reflected that if nothing else, the girl certainly was a competent medic. 

                At that moment, the girl laid her hands on the boy’s chest and closed her eyes.  Slowly, her hands began to glow with a strange light.

                “Hey… what are you doing?”  Beast Boy glanced up at Sakura and then back at his chest.  “Th-that… that kinda tingles.”

                The girl ignored him, her forehead furrowing in concentration.  Then she opened her eyes and a triumphant expression flashed across her face.  “Buta-chan,” said she, beckoning to the blonde. “Hai, yattemite Buta-chan.”

                Hesitantly, the blonde stepped forward and placed her hands where Sakura’s had been.  Her hands began to glow also.  

“Nanka kanjiruno?” asked the pink-haired one, expectantly.

“U-un, nanimo kanjinai,” said the blonde, shaking her head as she stepped away.  “Hitai-chan no chakura osae wa mada atashi yori umai date.”  Apparently she was unable to find whatever the other had.

                “Noroi fuuin no chi wa hara ni iruno da. Kitto sore wa kare ni sawatte iru.” responded Sakura, seemingly in explanation.  Glancing over at Beast Boy, she asked: “You’ve got some blood from an acquaintance of ours—Juugo, a powerful shapeshifter—in your body.  Did you ingest it, or did they inject you with some?”

                “Um…”  Beast Boy frowned in thought.  “I don’t remember being injected with anything… I guess… I bit him a lot, I guess I might’ve swallowed some of it…”

                The girl gave a relieved sigh.  Turning to the other doctors, she explained.  “Juugo’s blood was a transforming agent, it may be interfering with this one’s abilities.  I’m not sure, but I believe if we remove the blood, it should at least temporarily solve the problem.  May I have a bowl of clean water?”

                “Water?” came an incredulous voice from behind Dr. Jewell’s shoulder.

                “Just get it.”  Dr. Jewell snapped to her assistant.  This girl seemed to know what she was doing, and at least she seemed to have a better feel for things than most of the other doctors did.

                A few moments later, several bowls of filtered water sat waiting on a table.  The pink-haired girl dipped a finger into it and frowned before quickly launching into a babble of Japanese with the blonde.  Though the blonde seemed somewhat taken aback, she quickly nodded to whatever the other girl had asked for.

A trifle bothered by the reaction, Dr. Jewell stepped forward.  “Do you need any help, Miss Haruno?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you.”  The girl shook her head.  “There’s something funny with the water, but it shouldn’t cause any problems.  The substance is fairly easy to remove.  If the blood had been directly injected, things might’ve been serious, but as he swallowed it, his digestive system might’ve broken it down some.  Trust me, I’ve done more research into this blood and it’s affects than just about anyone in the world.”

The last sentence piqued Dr. Jewell’s interest.  “Really?  Why is that?”

The girl leaned forward for one of the bowls, obscuring her expression from the doctor’s view.  “Personal reasons.  Alright, I’m all ready now.  Ino?”

Nodding, the blonde placed both her glowing hands over one of the bowls.  Her brow furrowed in concentration and slowly, before the medical staff’s eyes, she drew out the water into a swirling orb floating between her hands.  She held it out to Sakura, who reached forward and took it (the exchange seemed to require a bit of concentration from both, but was handled fairly well), carrying it over to the bed.  “Oh.”  She said, catching sight of Beast Boy’s startled gaze.  “I forgot to mention… you may want to hold him down.  This will probably hurt a bit.”

Hold him down? 

What happened next was truly surreal. As far as Dr. Jewell could tell, the girl was drawing the water directly through the boy’s body, isolating and removing any elements of the “foreign substance” that she could find.  The water flowed from the orb in the girl’s one hand and entered the boy’s body perfectly clear.  On the other side of the body, it emerged dark and polluted, collecting into another orb around the girl’s other hand.

Three times the girl repeated the process, dumping the polluted samples into a new bowl the blonde held out.  The entire time, Beast Boy was uttering tiny whines—but struggling surprisingly little.  Finally Haruno Sakura stood back, her forehead damp with sweat.  “That’s all I can do.”  She panted, gesturing to the shapeshifter.  “Go ahead.  Try it again.”

Beast Boy bit his lip, but raised his good arm nonetheless.  The fur flattened back, formed into scales on an arm that was growing longer, thinner, less rigid…

And suddenly there was a green octopus in the operating room, hugging Haruno Sakura for all it was worth.  “Thankyouthankyouthankyou!”  It crowed in affectionate tones.  “Oh MAN, you have NO idea how good it feels after…”

“Get off me,” growled the medic.  “NOW.”

The octopus blanched at the girl’s voice.  “Uh, right, you got it.” It said, slithering off the girl in a moment and regrouping as a green-skinned teenager sitting on the hospital bed.  “How… how’d you do that?” he asked, scratching his head in a comical fashion.

Haruno Sakura shrugged.  “It’s just something I can do.”

                “So what exactly can this Sasuke friend of yours do?”  They needed to catalogue powers, get an idea of the threat they faced.

                The blonde one—Naruto, Batman reminded himself—shrugged wearily.  “Lots.”

                “His sharingan grants him the ability to instantly copy any techniques or moves he sees,” answered Sakura, the boy’s partner.  Batman had already singled them out as the two most valuable source of information.  “He trained for three years under a master of all of them.  Generally, though, he focuses on fire-based and lightning-based attacks.”

                Batman nodded, that fit with his own experience.  “This sharingan… that’s the same eye your sensei has, correct?”  Several heads nodded in response.  “Can he do that teleportation thing also?”

                “Unlikely.”  This time it was the bug-user, Aburame, who spoke up.  “Why?  If he had, this world would have experienced more disruption than it has.  Also, if Uchiha Sasuke has mastered the teleportation technique, logically he ought to be able to reverse it.  He would not still be here if he could.”

Time to get some real information.  “In the meantime, what else can this eye of his do?”

“In its base form, it just accelerates reaction time and allows the bearer photographic memory.  It also can perform simple illusions.  However, Sasuke has awakened a heightened version of it… they call it the Mangekyou Sharingan.”

“Really.”  This Sakura had done her research.  “And what can that do?”

A shrug in response.  “According to Kakashi-sensei, it has a heightened illusionary ability called Tsukuyomi, where the victim is more or less teleported to a state of mind where the user controls space and time.  It’s a very effective interrogation technique.”

“The guys from the Kage summit said he had some other stuff too…”  Naruto frowned.  “Amaterasu—black flames that can’t be extinguished—and Susanoo—some kind of massive figure that surrounds him and absolutely protects him.  They said he combined them to make some kind of black flaming monster, pretty wild.”

Interesting.  “And how…”

“Kage summit?”  That was Clark, distracted as always by the evil involved.  “Like… a diplomatic meeting?  He attacked them?”

Naruto’s face grew dark.  “Yeah.  He was after the current Hokage, Shimura Danzou, who was attending the summit.  The Kages beat him off, but Sasuke caught him on the way back and killed him.  We caught up just a little too late… Madara was just making off with the body when we arrived.”

“Madara?”

“Uchiha Madara, one of the founders of Konoha and current leader of the terrorist organization Akatsuki.  Sasuke is his… understudy, as much as the term applies.”  Shino adjusted his glasses.

Naruto nodded.  “He rescued Sasuke and his team from the Kage Summit.  Talked to the Kages, too, about some ‘Moon’s Eye Plan’ he has that’s going to throw the world into an eternal illusion and control everyone so he could guarantee world peace or something…”

“Villains do monologues on your world too?”  laughed Flash, cocking an eyebrow.  “I don’t get it.  You’d think they’d catch on how stupid it is to tell people what you’re going to do.”

“It WAS kinda weird.”  Naruto agreed.

Batman’s mind was somewhere else.  Plans that involved controlling the entire world were nothing new, but ones that could control the fabric of reality were not.

Why did that sound so familiar?

                “Explain.”  Waller’s face was hard.  “How would Luthor have gotten this Anti-Life equation?  And why bring it out only to give it to Darkseid?”

                “More to the point, if he had it—if both of them had it—why not use it?  I thought you said it gave them complete control of existence.”

                Batman gave a silent nod.  “Exactly.  It doesn’t make any sense.  If Luthor had the equation before the fight, he should have never been driven to contact us and confront Darkseid, so I can only assume he found it sometime during the fight.”  He held up a hand to forestall questions.  “How, I don’t know.  But it’s the only reason I can think for not bringing it out sooner.”

                “Which still leaves us with the question of WHY he brought it out, and WHY he used it like… that.”  Superman frowned.  “He could have taken over the world with it.  Why didn’t he?”

                “OR maybe he DID and we just don’t KNOW about it!”  Grinning cheekily, Flash leaned back.  “Maybe we’re all in some Luthor-controlled reality and he’s playing sick little mind games with us.  Huh?  Huh?”

                “In that case, he would not have wanted to capture the ninjas, nor would he have allowed one to escape.”  Mr. Terrific shook his head.

                “Plus, it seems like a Luthor-controlled world would be more blatant, not hidden,” pointed out Superman.  “Like you said, he’s an egomaniac.  If he was ruling the world,he’d want us to KNOW about it.”

                Flash slumped in his chair.  “Bummer.  There goes that theory.”  Suddenly his eyes brightened.  “Unless he’s just MAKING you all refute my brilliant idea to keep me from finding out the truth!”

                “Bats, how come you kept this information to yourself?”  Ignoring Flash’s outburst, Green Lantern turned on the Dark Knight.  “Why didn’t you do anything about it?”

                Batman’s response was a glare.  “Who said I haven’t been doing anything about it?  I don’t just sit around in my cave admiring the stalactites.  I’ve been working on countermeasures for some time.  But, as for why I didn’t tell the League, there was simply no point.  If Luthor had the equation, as Flash pointed out, you would be under his control.  If he did not, my theory was moot.”

                “You still could have told us your ideas.”  J’onn admonished.

                A snort came in response.  “I told you my ‘idea’ that Luthor wasn’t dead.  Did any of you listen to that?”

                An uncomfortable silence filled the conference room. 

                “Exactly.  I work best alone.  The only thing I might have accomplished would be perhaps a few more wisecracks from Flash and a few more ludicrous ‘leads’ from Plastic Man.  There was no point to telling anyone at the League, so I kept it to myself.”  Batman leaned back.  “Now that the facts are relevant again, I might as well tell you about them, but even now, they’re rather useless.  The only thing I can deduce is that the Anti-Life equation did not function as expected.”

                “OR it functioned EXACTLY as expected!”

                “Flash, be quiet.”  Superman groaned and pressed his fingers to his head.  “Let’s stick to basics for the moment,okay?  Luthor’s alive, perhaps in possession of the Anti-Life equation, which may or may not do what it was supposed to.  That just makes it all the more crucial that we find him and the three ninjas in his power.”  Glancing up, he pointed at J’onn.  “Put the word out to all League members that Luthor is back.  Any and all information possibly related to him or his organization is to be directed to the Watchtower.  We’ll need the government’s cooperation also.” He nodded to Waller, who inclined her head slightly.  “And… Lois?  Could you please try to keep this out of the papers?”

                “You think I CAN?”  Lois (who technically should not have been present), raised an eyebrow.  “You’re giving out information to a every member of a multi-national taskforce, including glory-hounds like Booster Gold, and you think I can keep the media from finding out about it?”

                Pleadingly, Superman gazed at her, and Lois finally sighed.  “Fine.  I won’t write anything for the Planet.  But you owe me a headline.  A BIG headline.”

                “Done.”  Superman turned back to the table.  “Any other questions?  Green Lantern?”

                “What’re we going to do with them?”  asked the ex-marine.  “I mean… we’re not keeping them here, I got that, but… you can’t honestly expect us to let a couple of dimensional visitors like that just wander loose around Metropolis.”

                Hawkgirl nodded.  “At the very least, they’re going to need someone to help them adjust to the outside world.  If the wrong one gets peeved, we could end up with another smashed city square to handle.”

                “‘Chakra.’”  The dark-skinned man standing just off the table frowned in thought.  “Interesting.  We do have something we CALL chakra in our world, but it sounds very different from yours.  It’s more a…” there was a touch of disdain in his voice “…religious thing than an actual energy.”

                A snort came from the winged woman (seriously, wings?) seated next to the green man, but the archer leaning against the wall seemed interested.  “You think they’re the same thing, maybe?  I mean, we have heroes here who get power from synching with nature and tapping into chi energies, maybe we could use chakra…”

                “You don’t have chakra.  I can sense chakra, and you don’t have it,” interrupted Neji.

                “Oh.”  Looking slightly nonplussed, the archer shrugged and glanced away.  “Worth a try.”

                Grinning, Naruto looked around.  Some of his friends looked a trifle anxious about how much he was giving away, but Neji, Sakura, and Hinata looked perfectly easy about it.  Lee, of course, was just grinning from ear to ear and beaming at all the spandex-clad people about him.

                They needed to get Lee out of here.  It just couldn’t be good for him.

                A cough from the stretcher-bound man interrupted his thoughts.  “If this chakra powers all your attacks, then the power and amount of your attacks is limited by your amount of chakra, correct?”

                “Sure.”  Naruto shrugged.  That was pretty basic academy stuff.

                “I see.”  The man gave a short nod.  “So explain something to me.  I fought four of your friends earlier, and Uchiha Sasuke after that.  I can guess Uchiha has fairly strong chakra reserves, simply by comparing him to the others.  But from what I’ve seen of your fight with Superman…”  The man’s eyes narrowed.  “…you must have a phenomenal amount of chakra.  Much greater than Uchiha, incredibly greater than your friends.  And, I’m guessing, many times greater than what a normal ninja should have.”

                The room was dead quiet.  The heroes mostly looked puzzled, unable to see what the dark-caped man was driving at.  The ninjas, however, sat tense, still, and ramrod-straight.  A few anxious glances were darting between them.

                “So what’s the story?  That sort of power can’t be natural, not even in your world.  You all have taken onto the idea of ‘metas’ rather well, and I’m guessing that we’re not the first ‘above the norm’ individuals you’ve heard of.”  The dark man’s eyes bored into his soul.  “All of you are already meta-class individuals, and if you are, as I think, exceptional even among them, then it’s essential that we know.  NOW.”

                Shino spoke up immediately.  “Uzumaki-san’s abilities are a matter of Konoha national security.”

                “Interesting.”  Now it was the fat black woman speaking.  “But as said ‘matter of national security’ happens to be within another nation, that makes it a matter of our national security that we know.”

                Thinking quickly, Naruto opened his mouth.  “It’s a special technique I can use… it’s called Sage mode.  I attune myself to the natural energy surrounding me and use it to augment my strength and invulnerability.  Anyone can do it, but it requires intensive and specialized training.”

                Batman was obviously not satisfied.  “Then why have none of your friends undergone this training?”

                “Na-Naruto-kun works harder and faster than anyone.”  That was Hinata.

                “He also attracted the attention of a gifted instructor.”  Shino adjusted his glasses.  “The secret of Sage Mode is taught only to a few, and even fewer master it.”

                There was a short moment of silence.  The heroes, who seemed to be following Batman’s lead, all glanced at him to see what he thought of the explanation.  After a few moments, he nodded.  “We have some here who work by attuning themselves to natural energies… it’s possible, I suppose.  So this makes you invulnerable and boosts your strength?”

                “Yes.  Boosts my chakra too, and renders me conscious of my surroundings in all directions.” 

                “Anything else?”

                “Uh… no.”

                “You’re sure?”

                “Yessss…” Naruto was growing uneasy.   WAS there anything else?

                “Then how do you explain your unnatural rate of healing?”  Before Naruto could answer he pressed on.  “And the strange markings on your stomach?  Our medics wondered about them.  And why are you all so anxious to present an explanation that moments ago you were all hiding?”

                Shino was on his feet.  “Batman-san, I must protest…”

                “Oh, don’t bother, Shino.”  Sighing, Naruto waved his friend down.  “They got us, we may as well tell them.   Might as well get it over with anyway, they’ll find out eventually.”  Turning to the man, he looked directly into his eyes and responded.  “I’m a jinchuuriki.  A demon host.  I have the spirit of the nine-tails fox sealed within my body, and I can draw pretty much any amount of chakra I want from it.”  He stared defiantly into the man’s eyes.  “That’s who I am.”

                There was a short silence.

                “A demon host?”  questioned the caped man.  He sounded almost disappointed.  “Is that all?”

                “Oh brother…”    the black-skinned man rolled his eyes.

                “Seems a bit different from ours.”  Superman frowned.  “That makes, what, two?”

                “Three.”  Batman shook his head.  “You’re forgetting Blue Devil.”

                “So…  anyway, sorry for smashing your legs and everything.”

                The creature snorted.  “If it comes to that, sorry for trying to spear you through the heart and banish your demon.  It was a fight.  Mistakes happen.”

                There was a short moment of silence.  Naruto perched on the chair beside a bed containing the blue-skinned psycho he had fought earlier.  Even knowing that the man was a demon host, Naruto couldn’t help but feel a little wierded out.  Not only was the guy covered in blue scales, but he had long sprouting horns, a forked tail, and a strange little beard that made him look almost silly.  And, even if the man DID seem a lot more friendly now that he’d learned about Naruto, his glowing eyes still looked kinda freaky.

                But still.  He was part demon, and that made him okay in Naruto’s book.

                “So you’ve got a demon ‘sealed’ in you, hmm?”  At Naruto’s nod the man shook his head.  “That’s a new one on me.  I’ve seen demons sealed in jars, bottles, pits, and lamps, but people… I didn’t know you could do that.  What does that mean, exactly?”

                Naruto shrugged.  “Well… it means I heal from injuries  quickly, and that I have a crazy amount of energy, and that I can draw on more if I need to.  Oh, and if I get mad or upset, I turn into a monster that destroys anything nearby.”

                “Hm.”  The man grunted.  “So you get the demonic powers, but not control over them.”  Giving a shrug, he added: “still, I take it you’re not damned to hell for them.”

                “I don’t… think so, no.”  Some of the villagers had suggested this to Naruto, but he’d never looked into the specifics, and the Third had never said anything about it.

                “Sounds like a pretty good deal, then,” mused the man, and at Naruto’s incredulous look, he shrugged.  “Well, suffering persecution during this life is bound to be better than suffering it for eternity.  The couple times I’ve been to hell… it ain’t pretty, kid.

                “You’ve been to hell?”  Naruto had a vague understanding of what the man was talking about, but his knowledge of hell was shaky at best.

                “Part of being a demon.  Well, a man turned into a ‘demon-with-a-soul,’ I suppose.”

                “You can turn a man into a demon?”  Naruto was flabbergasted.  Sealing demons he’d knew about, and being in harmony with your demon he’d heard of, but… actually becoming a demon?

                His surprise did not last long.  “No, not really.”  The man/demon/neither answered.  “I suppose, essentially, I’m still a man under all this.  I’m just a man with demonic powers who’s damned to hell.  Oh, and I have the horns and tail.”

“Are they important?”

                “Important?  Nah.  Neither does anything particularly special.  They’re just memoirs of my deal with Neron.  Gave them to me so EVERYONE could tell I was a flesh and blood demon.”  The man grunted.  “Don’t ever make deals with demons, kid, not even your own.  They ALWAYS screw you over.”

                Naruto nodded in compliance, but something was still bothering him.  “So those are supposed to show you’re a demon?”  At Blue Devil’s nod, he  exploded: “But that’s crazy!  Demons don’t look like that!”

                “Of course not.  Demons are spiritual creatures, they can look like whatever they like.  Neron just chose this form to remind everyone else what I am, and to torment me particularly.”  Grunting again, Blue Devil folded his arms across his chest.  “Trust a demon to take the religious angle.”

                “Religous…?”

                “I’m Catholic, kid.  Do you think I enjoy looking like this?  I can’t go to church anymore, or take communion, or even say the Lord’s prayer without burning myself up.”

                Blinking, Naruto asked, “What’s a ‘Catholic,’ and what are churches?”

                  “You’re kiddin…”  The man glanced at Naruto and shook his head.  “Okay, you’re not.”  He sighed.  “When I gets out of this hospital bed, I’m going to have a long talk with you.”

                There was another long silence, broken this time by the man.  “So.”  He said finally.  “What do demons do back where you come from?”

                “Break things, mostly.  Destroy countries and stuff.”

                “That seems awfully simple for them,” frowned Blue Devil.  “So what’d you seal one into you for?”

                Naruto frowned in response.  “I didn’t.  My dad sealed it inside me.  Villages use guys like me as big weapons.”  A grin crossed his face for a moment.  “But my dad had a LOT more in mind than that.”

                Eyebrows raised, Blue Devil asked, “So you don’t ask for it?  Your government gives it to you?”  At Naruto’s shrug, he grunted.  “Well.  Guess that does stink, then.  I at least made a deal for my powers… I knew what I was doing.  You’ve got it rougher than I thought.  Sorry kid.”

                “No problem.”  Naruto grinned.  “I’m sorta used to it by now.”

                “Hm.  Yeah, I guess it does sorta grow on ya.”

                “So what do you do with your… demon?”  Naruto eyed Blue Devil curiously.

                Frowning, Blue Devil glanced up.  “Told ya.  I don’t HAVE a demon, I AM one—for all intents and purposes, anyway.  But I use my powers as a demon to send other ones back to hell.  That’s what the pitchfork…”  he nodded to where it was hanging on the wall.  “…is for.”

                “Whoah.”  Naruto glanced as the object.  “Is that what you were gonna do to me?”

                “Yeah,” came the nod.  “Sorry.”

                “Don’t sweat it.  Don’t know if it would have worked anyway.”

                “Prob’ly not,” agreed the other.  “So, if you’re a demon host, what’s your friend?”

                “Friend?”  A small ‘eep!’ made Naruto turn, and he instantly understood what Blue Devil was talking about.  “Oh!  Hi Hinata!  When’d you get here?”

                Chuckles broke loose from Blue Devil.  “She came in here with you, kid.  Right behind you.  Don’t you remember?”

                “I thought you went with Shino and Neji,” said Naruto, pointedly ignoring Blue Devil’s question.  It was really kinda freaky how quiet Hinata could be at times.  She must be a great ninja for stealth, to be able to sneak up on people like she did with him.

                At the moment, though, she simply stood there, blushing red and tapping her fingers together.  “I… I thought somebody should go with you.” She murmured.

                “So what are you?” asked Blue Devil, who seemed amused by something.

                Hinata blinked.  “Hyuuga Hinata.” She answered, bowing.

                “No, no, not who are you.”  The horns wagged back and forth.  “I mean, what are you?”

                This time, both Hinata and Naruto stared at him.

                “Ya mean ya don’t know?”  Blue Devil’s glowing eyes widened.  “That’s weird.  That’s really weird.”

                “Getting back to Sasuke,”  Superman broke into Green Arrows list of supernaturally-enhanced heroes, “There’s something we need to know.  Can he do this jutsu of your sensei’s?”

                “Not yet.  It’s an original jutsu of Kakashi-sensei’s, and Sasuke’s never seen it before.”  Suddenly Naruto frowned.  “He WILL learn it, though.  He’ll be trying to find a way to get back.”

                “So basically, if we give him enough time to figure it out, he’ll leave on his own.”  Green Lantern shrugged.  “Problem solved.”

                But the ninjas were shaking their heads.  “We must find him before he has the chance to.”  Neji indicated.

                Superman blinked.  “Why?”

Deciding to re-enter the conversation, Batman spoke up.  “Because this Sasuke is a threat to their village.  If he goes back there and these kids aren’t there to stop him, their village is toast.”  He glanced at the teenagers.  “Correct?”  A few heads nodded hesitantly.  “Thus, they want him to stay here.”

“But blast it, we can’t just KEEP the kid here.”  Looking askance, Green Lantern threw up his hands.  “He’s a major threat, we’re not running some kind of prison colony.”

“The UN will not sanction the holding of interdimensional criminals.  Caliban was bad enough, we’re not hanging onto any more of them.”  Waller tapped the end of her pen on the desk to emphasize the point.

Fortunately the ninjas did not seem inclined to argue the point.  “Naturally,” nodded Shino.  “Uchiha Sasuke is a missing-nin of Konoha, and Konoha must deal with him.  But also we cannot allow him to return before us.”

“We can help with that.  We’re looking for him already.”  Superman assured them.  “Once we find him, we’ll place him and his confederates in your hands to be tried back in Konoha.”

A bare arm raised up in the arm, and Batman irritably noted its owner—Sai, the androgynous ninja with the creepy smile.  “How do you intend to return us to Konoha, honorable gentlemen?”  he asked, another false grin spreading across his face.  “Perhaps I have missed it, but I do not recall hearing about how that is to occur.”

“It’s… going to be tricky.”  Superman admitted, glancing over to Mr. Terrific.

                “But not impossible.”  Mr. Terrific offered a short nod.  “As we mentioned, we’ve had experience with interdimensional affairs before.  There are a few experimental portals that Batman has designed… with a little work they could be open a link to your world.” 

A sudden frown crossed his face.  “The difficulty, of course, will be connecting to YOUR world.  Most links we’ve done are between Earths similar to our own.  Yours is obviously very different, and thus will be much more difficult.  However, with enough time and resources…”  Mr. Terrific gestured.  “It can be done.”

There was a short silence as the ninjas mulled over this.  “And how long will it take you to build this gateway?”

“Impossible to say for certain.”  The scientist admitted.  “A few months, at best.”

                “So what on earth are we going to do with them in the meantime?”  Hawkgirl exploded.  “We can’t just let them run loose out there!”

                Lois’ eyes narrowed.  “Clark, if you…”

                “We’re not keeping them here,” replied Superman, closing his eyes.  “That’s not up for debate.  Just because they’re powerful doesn’t mean they’re dangerous.  They seem disciplined, they can handle themselves, and they know they can—somewhat—rely on us.”

                Green Arrow snorted.  Grinning, Lois threw a somewhat smug look at Hawkgirl.

                But Superman wasn’t done.  “On the other hand, Shayera has a good point also.  We can’t just ‘let them run loose out there.’  Not only because they’re incredibly powerful, but because they’re incredibly LOST.  They don’t really know where they are or what to do.”  Opening his eyes, Superman glanced at Lois.  “How long do you think Hinata would have lasted on the streets without you?”

                Lois looked a little uncomfortable.  “She’s a smart girl…”

                “But she doesn’t know anything about the place.”  Wonder Woman nodded.  “Anyone could take advantage of that.  Scam artists, the media, politicians…”

                “Luthor,” added Batman darkly.

                “…supervillians too.”  Wonder Woman agreed.

                “Their lack of knowledge also renders their power inherently dangerous.”  J’onn’s voice entered the conversation.  “With the difference between Earth customs and their own, it is highly likely they may commit a crime without trying to, or feel some well-meaning person has committed a crime against them.”

                “Which leaves us with a crater in downtown Metropolis.”

                Amanda Waller gave a short nod.  “They have essentially the same status as foreign nationals—some sort of watch will need to be set on them, and probably some officials to help assimilate them into the world.”

                “They’re not likely to trust anybody WE offer,” pointed out Green Arrow.

                Batman snorted.  “This all has nothing to do with me.”  He said, picking up the remote to his motorized stretcher.  “Let me know what you decide to do with the kids, I’m going to check on the situation in the infirmary.”

                The others watched as Batman’s stretcher slowly drove out of the room, then returned to table.  “So what do we do?”  Superman glanced at the others.  “Ideas?”

                “Give them a building in Metropolis, where we can keep an eye on them.”  Green Lantern offered.  “Gives them free access, but helps us to contain any disasters.”

                Lois scoffed.  “Try getting THAT past City Council.”

                “How about a place in the country then?”

Superman thought about it.  “It WOULD keep culture clash to a minimum, and limit any possible disasters.  We wouldn’t be able to observe the situation, though.  If Luthor struck, we’d have little time to respond.”

                “I don’t suppose you’ll want to listen, but I do have one idea.”  Grunting, Waller heaved herself up.  “The government could possibly furnish a facility that…”

                “No.”

                Waller shrugged resignedly.  “As you wish.”

                “How about a moon base?”

                “NO, Flash.”  Superman rubbed his eyes.  “Any other ideas?  Anyone?”

                A silence descended over the conference room.

                “So… what do we do now?”  Naruto glanced around the room.

                Superman cleared his throat.  “Well, until this 'Sasuke' is found and the portal built, there’s not really much else we can do, I’m afraid.  I suppose you’ll simply have to get used to living here.”

                “Not ‘here’ as in ‘here’ of course.”  He added hastily, seeing the dark expressions being sent at him.  “Or rather… I suppose if you wanted to…  But what I meant was, you shall have to spend some time HERE in this WORLD.  Getting used to it.”

                “Sasuke is a matter for Konoha to deal with,” responded Shino.  “Why?  Certain attachments between him and members of our party make it dangerous for others to kill him.”

                “We’re not going to kill him.  We’re just going to capture him and hand him over to you.”

                Shino gave a short nod.  “Still.  We must insist on doing our part in hunting down the Uchiha.”

                “Not possible, I’m afraid.”  Superman shook his head.  “You guys don’t know the territory or the people here.  Your normal tracking methods may not even work.  No, you’d best leave him to us.  We have a network already set up, it shouldn’t take long.”

                “But I must…”

                “Shino.”  Naruto waved the Aburame into silence.  “Don’t bother.”  It’s not like they were going to actually follow what these people told them anyway.

                Giving Naruto a grateful nod, Superman returned to his speech.  “In any case, you’re all free to go.”  Several of the ninjas smiled, but most remained tense.  “We may need some of you to help Mr. Terrific building the portal, but outside of that, I suggest you just relax and enjoy your time here.  Don’t worry about Luthor, we’ll find him and your friends soon.”

                “Huh.”  That was Sakura.  “And where do you propose we ‘relax’ while you’re doing all this?”

                Superman paused, clearly wondering about the same thing.  “Well.” He said finally.  “I suppose you COULD stay here in the Metro Tower…”

                “NO.”

                “Not happening.”

                “We respectfully decline.”

                Naruto stood up.  “Look, thanks, but no thanks, okay?   From the looks of things, NONE of us have had good memories of this place.”

                Also standing to her feet, Sakura added, “Let us know if you’ve got any better ideas.  In the meantime, we’re outta here.”

                One by one, the ninjas filed out of the conference room.

                Sakura examined the red-clad boy a moment and frowned, then put her fingers together.  “Kai!” 

                Eyelids flashed open.  A glance to the left, then to the right, and finally the young vigilante seemed to relax.  “Metrotower?”  He asked Sakura.

                “Yes.”  Sakura nodded.  “This is the Metrotower.  You…”

                “Roooooobin!!”  An orange blur dashed past Sakura and engulfed her former patient.  “You are well!  You are no longer the non-conscious!  Thank Oflgar!”

                Robin blinked at his Tamaranian girlfriend.  “Hi Star.  Um, what…”

                “And you!”  The girl whirled around and faced Sakura.  “Thank you, most honored physician of the pink-hair, for you have returned Robin to health and vigor!”  A second later Sakura found herself engulfed in a similar bone-crushing hug.  “Oh, this is truly joyous!”

                Sakura struggled to find words.  “Uh… you’re welcome?”  The odd orange flying girl had run into them just outside Beast Boy’s room.  Upon hearing what they had done there, she had instantly begun pleading with them to help ‘also friend Robin, who was lying sick without the consciousness and the medics did not know what to do.’ 

Really, Sakura hadn’t needed much convincing, but the girl had practically dragged her there anyway.  After that, the problem was relatively simple to solve—it was a genjutsu, a minor one, just enough to keep the victim out of things.  Easy to figure out.

The girl?  Not so much.

“So.”  The red one—Robin—sat part up in bed.  “Was it Batman?”

Sakura blinked.  “I’m sorry?”

“Yes it was, friend Robin!”  The orange girl nodded excitedly.  “He broke into the cell with friend Raven and I!  I recognized not him, so I performed the disintegration beam, but he dodged and stopped me.  Then he…”

Sakura stared at the strange girl as she rattled on all that she had heard about the battle at Titan’s Tower.  Batman?  As in the Batman that attacked us?  He rescued these guys?  So Batman had fought Sasuke in order to rescue these teenagers, not merely for the fun of the thing.  He had come there to help.  And got badly hurt doing it, she realized with a wince, recalling the stretcher.

The red-clad boy apparently had different thoughts.  “Blast him.”  He scowled.  “He always has to be babysitting me, doesn’t he?  Can’t trust me to handle things for myself.”  Shaking his head, he glanced back at Star.  “So they’re all safe?  Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy?”

“Yes, Robin.  They are all well.  Beast Boy was for a time badly injured, but this woman saved him.”

“Really?”  The teen gave Sakura a critical once-over.  “Thanks.  Gar can get carried away sometimes.”

“Least I could do.”  Sakura shrugged.  “After Sasuke trashed your guys’ base…”

Robin’s eyebrows shot up.  “Sasuke?  So you know red-eyes?”

“In a way.”  Sakura tried to keep her voice even.  “Or at least, I used to.”

“Hm.  How much do you know about him?”

Sakura shrugged.  “Oh… a good deal.”

“Good,” grinned Robin.   “We need data.  As soon as we’re out of the hospital here, I’ll need all the info you have.  We won’t be able to mount a pursuit and attack squad without a proper understanding of his powers and…”

“YOU won’t be able to mount a proper pursuit squad, period.”  A new voice broke into the conversation, and the others turned to watch a motorized stretcher coast into the room, carrying a familiar caped figure.  “Half your team is out and you’re not too good yourself.  I doubt you’ll even be able to keep Jump City under control for long.”

Robin’s eyes narrowed.  “Batman…”

“Temper, Robin.”  Batman cautioned him.  “Control the anger and release elsewhere.”  His eyes narrowed.  “I need to talk with you about the tower’s security measures.”

“I’m not interested in what you have to say.”

“I’m not interested in your lack of interest.  You’re going to hear it anyway.”  Batman turned to the others.   “You may leave now.”

Taking the hint, Sakura quickly left, dragging a (somewhat confused) Starfire with her.  “C’mon, I don’t think we’re exactly wanted here.”

“But I do not comprehend!  Friend Robin should be glad to meet our rescuer!  Why is he so angry?”

“Don’t look at me.  I just met him five minutes ago.”  Sakura grunted, plopping down on a bench next to Sai and Ino.  “Batman, though, I met yesterday, and if Robin knows him I can imagine he’d be grumpy.”

Starfire looked a little puzzled but shrugged it off.  “In any case, I must again offer my thanks for curing Robin.  I no longer have the sorrow, because of your efforts.  Thank you!”  She bowed.

“You’re welcome.”  Sakura gave a little grin.  This girl felt something like a female version of Lee.  “So tell me, what is he exactly?  Teammate of yours?”

The girl’s face nearly burst with happiness.  “Friend Robin is my morthlug opetim!”

Just when this world was making sense…  “Pardon?”

“Oh!  I offer the apologies!  In this world, you would say, he is my boyfriend!”

“Ah.”  That made better sense.

Curiously, the girl almost seemed to sober after this declaration.  “I am most grateful,” she said quietly, “that he is so.  Robin can be hard upon himself, and somber.  He does not always have the joyness of heart that he should.”

“Really?”  Sakura glanced over at Sai and Ino, who seemed engaged in their task of wrapping Sai’s hand.  “Why is that?”

“He is lonely.  And suffering.”  The girl answered, and something about the way she said it made Sakura look up.  “He has suffered much, I can know, but he does not speak of it.  He holds it in.  He should not do so, it cannot be good for the sulgruns.”

“Naturally.”  Sakura wasn’t really paying attention to the words, but the gist of what Starfire was saying sounded frighteningly familiar.

“So I am glad.”  Starfire sighed.  “I am glad that he is my morthlug opetim, so that I may help him with this.  I feel the fear to think of what he might become if I did not.”

“Yes.”  Sakura nodded quietly.  “Yes, you should.”

Starfire glanced up curiously.  “What makes you use the tone of… Oh!”  She cried, glancing down the hallway, and immediately dashed off in a blur of orange and purple.  From down the hallway, Sakura could hear voices. 

“Get. Off. Of. Me.”

“Friend Raven!  It is most joyous to behold you again!”

“Star, I’m really not…”

“Oh!  You must come with me and meet the pink-haired one!  She is most kind and agreeable and you shall be great friends!”

“Doubtful.”

Sighing, Sakura glanced over at Ino.  “When were we supposed to meet the others?”

Ino checked her wrist.  “Another five minutes.”

“Suppose we should get moving then.”  Sakura stood up.  “Haven’t really learned anything, hope the others were…”

BANG!  The door smashed open and an irate Robin stalked out.  “I don’t need your advice, old man!”  He shouted back at the room.

“Suit yourself then,” came the reply, just audible enough for the others to hear.  “Good luck with Jump City while all your friends are on half-juice and your base is destroyed.”

Robin stepped back in again.  “We’ll. Take. Care. Of It.”  He growled, voice slightly muffled by the wall.

“I’m sure you will.  Especially with the other Titan cells so busy.”

“We’ll manage!”  Robin shouted, stepping back out.  “We’ll manage, and we’ll do it without you, or the Justice League, or Wayne Enterprises!”  He slammed the door.

Sai looked at Ino.  Ino looked at Sakura.  Sakura looked at Sai.

 Ignoring them, Robin walked over to Starfire, who had dashed over at the first sound.  “Star, we’re leaving.”  He ground out.  “Get the others to the flight deck and find a jet for us to use.”

“But, friend Robin, you are not…”

“Just do it.”  He growled.  “We’ll be fine.  We’ll find some help somewhere.”

“Excuse me.”

Turning, the two faced Sakura, who was gazing at them with a quizzical expression.

“We… may be able to help.”

                “A… superhero team?

                “The same team that Sasuke beat up. ” explained Sakura to the others.  “They’re all in pretty bad shape, and they need help until they’re back up to speed.  It seems like the least we can do, and besides, it’s a good place to pick up Sasuke’s trail.”

                “Sakura, we’ve been forbidden from pursuing Sasuke.”  Neji reminded her.

                Kiba rolled his eyes.  “And we were all so totally planning on actually obeying that.”

                “Exactly.”  Nodding, Sakura gave Naruto a wry look.  “We’ll probably end up going there anyway, it seems we might as well have a good reason for it.”

                “That does make a certain amount of sense.  However, can we be certain these ‘Teen Titans’ are trustworthy?”  Shino quirked an eyebrow at her.

                A grin came in response.  “Not really a major issue, with half of them too badly wounded to really attack any of us.  But besides that, their leader HATES the league.  Especially Batman.  If that’s not trustworthy, I don’t know what is.”

                Chouji and Lee grinned in response.  Neji, predictably, had no reaction, but his mouth gave just the tiniest quiver.

                “Look, it’s the perfect situation.”  Time for the last appeal.  “They need fighters, we need guides.  We’re all familiar with fighting, and they’re all familiar with this world.  They even have a base for us to use, so there’s no need for us to run out and grab something.”  She glanced around the circle.  “So what do you guys think?”

                After some preliminary glancing around the circle, Naruto gave a nod.  “Sounds good.”

                “The Teen Titans jet has cleared the hangar, Batman.”

                Batman simply nodded. 

                J’onn studied his friend for a moment, then returned his attention to the screen.  “It appears all our worrying was for nothing.  They came up with a solution on their own.”

                “They’re smart kids,” grunted Batman noncommittedly.

                “Indeed.  They have found a solution that adequately satisfies all parties.  They will be both guided and supervised, by your apprentice no less.”  After watching Batman a few seconds more, J’onn added, “We did not even have to suggest it to them.”

                Batman shrugged.  “If we had, they would never have chosen it.”

                “True,” agreed J’onn.  “Fortunate that they were on hand to witness your argument with Robin.  Or that you had such an argument with Robin.”

                “Nothing new about Robin and I having an argument.”

                “Perhaps.  But such a curiously opportune one?”

                A shrug came in response.

                J’onn shook his head and once again looked at the screen.  “Your apprentice is very masterful.  How did you get him to agree to your plan?”

                A small smile curved Batman’s lips.  “I’m not so sure he knew it WAS my plan.”

                Juugo hauled himself, gasping, from the water.  Though unused to staying underwater for so long, he’d managed it through sheer desperation and force of will.  The strange visitors had finally left the island, and it was safe to come out of the water.

                Not to return to the island, though.  The island was far too dangerous, he had to find somewhere else to hide.  And he had to find Sasuke-sama.   Sasuke-sama must be hiding somewhere already, Juugo had merely to catch up.

                Quickly, Juugo reverted back into a human.  Couldn’t go walking about the streets looking like a gargoyle, after all.  He clambered onto the dock and began to move toward the lights of the city.

                Thot.

                A sharp pinch at the back of his neck made him clap a hand to it, and there he found a strange dart-like syringe.  Where did…

                Thot.  Thot.  Thot.

                Too late, Juugo realized the danger.  He had no time to activate the curse seal as he slumped to the concrete, darkness covering his eyes.

Chapter Text

            Shikamaru stared absently up at the ceiling.  The softer bed is nice, but I should have remembered to ask for a window, he thought absently.  Stupid white ceiling is stupid boring.  Least they could do is paint some clouds on it.

A slight hissing sound alerted him to the appearance of a familiar bald head.  Shikamaru gazed at him disinterestedly.  “Hey there.”

 “The guards tell me you’ve been complaining about how bored you are.”

Shikamaru shrugged, at least as much as he could with his arms still manacled in place.  “You try being handcuffed to a bed all day and night.  The least you could do is let me eat, or go to the bathroom.  This catheter gets old real fast, you know.”

“I imagine it does,” observed the man, surveying him coolly.  “But our deal was only for the bed, and I’m not about to let you out of those cuffs.”

“What,” Shikamaru allowed himself a grin.  “My one friend get you convinced that maybe I wasn’t bluffing after all?  Sounded like quite a ruckus he made out there.”

“On the contrary, the incident convinced me you WERE bluffing.  If your friend can do something like that, then I fail to see why you haven’t used your ‘comparable power’ to break loose and get somewhere less boring.”

Shikamaru yawned.  “Too troublesome.”

“Or too risky, perhaps.  Your friend found out how useless escape attempts are.”

“Pull the other one,” replied Shikamaru, rolling his eyes.  “You don’t have Naruto, he got loose.  Otherwise, why relocate your whole base?”  

“What makes you think I did?”  A touch of interest had come into the man’s face.

“Well one, this is a different room than I fell asleep in, duh.  Two, I heard an enormous amount of commotion just before I was drugged, and I woke up to the same commotion—moving material, I assume.  And three, the air here is different… drier, somehow.  I’d say we’re in a totally new location.”  Thoroughly enjoying himself, Shikamaru yawned again.  “The only reason you’d do that is if Naruto broke out of your old one.”

The man was now gazing at  him with a wholly new expression.  Almost a challenging one.  “Naruto, you say.  And how did you know it was Naruto that broke out?”

A flash of panic flitted across Shikamaru’s face.  “He’s the most reckless of my buddies.  The only one likely to try to break out.  I figured if anyone tried it, it would be him.”

“And you wouldn’t.”

“I could do it, I suppose, but it’d be a lot of bother, what with the guards and the weapons and all.  Besides, I told you, my power doesn’t work quite like my friend’s.  It’d be a tad more difficult.  Of course if this place gets any more boring…” he let the sentence fall.

For a moment the man stood there, contemplating him, an odd half-smile curling his lips.  “Boring, eh?”  He finally commented.  “Tell me, Mr. Nara… would you care to play a game of chess?”

            “So this vehicle is flying then.”

            Cyborg rolled his eyes.  “Yes, for the thirtieth time, this puppy is FLYING.  Proceeding at a velocity of approximately 500mph at a height of 10,000 feet above the ground.  That’s whatcha call flying, Mr. Eyes.  Anything else you wanna know?”

            Neji just kept staring around the plane, ignoring the chatter from his comrades in the back.  “Fascinating.  Do you build these flying machines yourself?”

            “Ha!”  A touch of a grin came into Cyborg’s face.  “You are talking to the master technician-slash-engineer-slash-all-out-GENIUS of the Teen Titans.  I make ‘em, rework ‘em, and FLY ‘em.”

            “He’s humble too,” commented Robin dryly.  “To answer your question, he didn’t make this specific one.  This is one of the Justice League’s standard Javelins.  All of our vehicles are still stuck at base.”

            “But you build vehicles similar to this one.”

            Robin shrugged.  “Sure.”

            “Wonderful.  Truly wonderful.”  Glancing around the room one final time, Neji gave a nod of respect to the two pilots.  “You are people who make your own fate and do not remain within the cage.  That is truly admirable.”

            Cyborg glanced at Robin.  Robin shrugged.

            “Dude, you are seriously hung up on this whole fate business, y’know?”

            A grin twitched around the corner of Neji’s mouth.  “I’ve been told that before, yes.”

            “Hey, you’re Robin, right?”

            Robin turned to confront the hyperactive blonde moving toward the front.  “That’s me, yes.  You’re… Naruto, correct?”

            “That’s me!”  The whisker-faced teen flashed a grin and a thumbs-up.  “Say, thanks for letting us crash at your place and all.  We were kinda stuck there for a minute.”

            “Not a problem.  We can use the help.  Was there something you wanted to ask me?”  Robin arched an eyebrow.

            “Ah… yeah.”  Laughing nervously, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.  “That one friend of yours… does she hate me or something?  Or is she always like that?”

            Cyborg threw a quick glance over his shoulder.  “Who, Raven?  Nah, she’s like that to everyone.  Don’t sweat it.”

            Though Robin said nothing, he did not entirely agree with his friend’s assessment.  Something definitely seemed… off about Raven.  She’d been avoiding the blonde and his dark-haired shadow the entire trip.

            Speaking of which, where was the shadow?  The one girl—Hinata—was almost constantly around Naruto. 

            “I am most happy to make your acquaintance, fellow non-earthling!”

            Ah.  Glancing back, Robin caught sight of a very startled Hinata caught in the friendly embrace of a VERY enthusiastic Tamaranian.

            “Ummmm…. Th-th-thank you… but I…”

            “I feel we shall become great friends!”  Starfire’s happy yammering floated all the way to the front.  “You must come to my abode and play the scrabble, and then perhaps we shall go and partake of the shopping!  Friend Raven shall come too, will you not, friend Raven?”

            “Hmph.”

            “It is agreed then!  We shall journey upon the mall, and do much shopping, and partake of much ice-cream!”

            It was fortunate, Robin observed, that Star already knew Japanese.  He wasn’t sure how most of these teens would take to being kissed, even if it DID help her understand them.  And Star obviously wanted to understand ALL of their new visitors.  She had spent the entire trip rushing from one seat to another, trying to acquaint herself with their new “teammates.”   Understandable perhaps, she hadn’t had so many new friends in a long time.

            Still.  Robin felt that not all the visitors enjoyed the attention.  Fortunately the pink-haired girl—Sakura—knew her already, and Naruto seemed to be just as enthusiastic about making friends as Star.  But the one Shino guy had just cocked an eyebrow and moved away, and Neji had simply sat there.  Sai had smiled, but that had somehow looked even more disturbing.

            At least Beast Boy and the one Kiba kid seemed to have hit it off pretty well.  He could see them in the back, talking avidly—about dogs, he imagined, as every so often Gar would shift into one.

            Frowning, Robin wondered for the twentieth time whether this was really such a good idea.  New people raised new problems.  He wasn’t sure he or the team could handle ten new members, all unused to their routine, their way of life, their… well, ANYTHING really.  For people like Raven, the tower was already too small.  Ten new occupants weren’t going to help that.

            “Yo Robin.”  Cyborg’s voice broke into his thoughts.  “We’re coming up on Jump City, ETA 5 minutes.  Our usual landing pad is shot, so I’m just gonna land this puppy on the roof.”

            “Sounds good.”  Robin gave a short nod.  No point in worrying any further, he supposed.

            Sasuke cast a pensive glance out the window, watching the landscape speed past.  These mechanical wagons were marvelously efficient, he considered.  He could probably run faster than the vehicle he was in, but it was much less tiresome to ride.

            It also attracted much less attention.  After about two hours of walking along the highway, he’d been stopped twelve times by various people all (apparently) desiring that he ride with them.  Fortunately none had observed the sword underneath his trench coat.  Each time, Sasuke had declined.  He did not trust the machines, and could not rely on them to take him where he wanted to go, particularly when he could not pronounce the name of the city.  His lack of knowledge about the language hampered him severely, he had to admit.

However, Sasuke had discovered a language that EVERYONE understood.  Violence.

His current driver, a bearded man wearing slightly fogged glasses, had had the bad luck to come last in a string of three consecutive attempted pick-ups.  By that time, Sasuke had gotten so fed up, he decided to take the next one simply to drive the others away.

So when the man had pulled up alongside and rolled down the window, Sasuke whipped out his sword, held it to the man’s neck, and pulled out his map, pointing.  “Take me here.”

Whether the man had understood the words, Sasuke couldn’t tell.  But he’d certainly understood the intent.  They’d covered a hundred miles in what Sasuke assumed was record time before he grew tired of holding his sword to the man’s throat and simply placed him in a genjutsu.   Now they were driving along at a reasonable pace and the man was simply oblivious to him.  Much better.  He would get there in no time.

A flash of color disturbed his view as an open-topped Cadillac cruised into the lane next to them, and several laughing females called out to him.

Sasuke sighed and turned away.  Couldn’t Kakashi have sent me to an EMPTY world?

            “Wait so…”  Cyborg grappled for words.  “You guys are gonna just… all live in the same room?  Like with clothes and beds and everything?”

            Turning, Shino eyed him impassively.  “That is generally what living is termed as.”

            “But… all of you?”

            “Of course not!”  Kiba glanced up from where he was unrolling his bedroll.  “We’re divided up.  It’s just us three in this room.”

            “No, no…”  Cyborg shook his head.  They didn’t get it.  “What about… the girl?”

            “Who?”

            “You are speaking of Hinata-san?”

            “U-um… what about me?”

            “Well, you guys just can’t… I mean you don’t just…”  Desperately Cyborg appealed to Hinata.  “C’mon, girl, don’t you see the problem with this?”

            Hinata blinked.  “Should I?”

            “It’s just not…”   Groaning, Cyborg resisted the urge to bang his head into the already battered wall.  These guys were impossible!

            “Co-ed housing is somewhat unusual for us,” Robin’s voice floated helpfully over his shoulder.  “I mean, it’s done, but mostly for emergencies.”  He raised an eyebrow at the three.  “You do this a lot?”

            Kiba gave a shrug.  “Well, yeah.”

            “We move and camp as a team,” clarified Shino.  “Although I suppose Hinata generally does sleep apart from the rest of us, with Kurenai-sensei.”

            “There a problem?”  Naruto’s bright face appeared next to Robin’s.  “Hey guys.”

            “H-hello N-Naruto-kun.”

            “No, no problem.”  Robin assured the blonde.  “The housing arrangements are just a little… puzzling for us.  I guess we were thinking the guys and the girls would sorta… split up or something.”

            Naruto shrugged.  “We usually just all sleep together, I guess we were just thinking we could do the same here.  Technically I guess there’s no reason to.”

            “What’s going on in here?”  Sakura’s voice preceded her by a few seconds.  “Have you guys seen Sai?  He was looking for a room to set up camp in.”

            “We were discussing that, actually.”  Robin nodded.  “We have enough room, you could split up by gender instead of by team.  Later, when we get the rest of the tower built up, we may even be able to give you individual rooms, but until then… well, it would probably be more comfortable for everyone to adopt new arrangements.

            “Each team is designed around a speciality.  Splitting up the teams will reduce combat effectiveness in case of a surprise attack,” objected Shino.

            “Hey, ain’t nobody surprise attackin’ NOBODY on this tower.”  Cyborg stood tall and crossed his arms.  “We got cameras, sensors, alarms, and guns all OVER this thing.  We’ll know they’re coming long before they hit this place.”

            “Plus, we’re not really on a mission, Shino.”  Kiba snorted. 

            Sakura rolled her eyes.  “Look, much as I love hearing all this, the point is kinda moot.  We’ve been doing this for a long time.  It works.  We trust our teammates.”  She turned.  “Now Naruto, do you know where Sai is?”

            “Man, what’s with you, girl?”  Cyborg arched an eyebrow.  “Where do you get off asking this guy for things?  You his girlfriend or something?”

            The simple words brought a reaction immediately.  Naruto’s mouth suddenly tightened, and his eyes narrowed almost imperceptively.  For her part, Sakura seemed to almost wilt, her face pale and her eyes hidden.  Each studiously avoided the other’s gaze.

Robin, though, found himself more intrigued by the reactions of the others.  Hinata’s pale white eyes were darting from one to the other in confusion.  Shino’s normally impassive face sported a raised eyebrow.  Only Kiba, normally the energetic one, seemed to sigh in resignation as he packed up his gear.

This isn’t normal.  Robin realized.  Not for Naruto or Sakura. 

Interested in the little puzzle, he let the silence sit a while longer before breaking it.  “So what do you want to do?” he asked, being sure to keep his voice neutral.

Naruto glanced up.  “I guess… we should probably break up the teams like you said.  It’ll probably be easier on everybody… in the long run anyway.”

“Yes.” Sakura nodded, head to the ground.  “That sounds best.”

“We’ll need big rooms for that, though.  Do you guys know a place big enough for all the guys to hang out in?”  Turning expectantly, Naruto shot Cyborg an inquisitive look.

            Cyborg shrugged.  “A few.  Here, I’ll show ya.” 

            “I’ll… go find Ino and tell her,” fumbled Sakura, as she fled out the door.

              Robin was left alone with the three ninjas.  After a momentary debate as to the wisdom of prying, he turned and glanced at Kiba.  “What was that about?”

            “Personal issues,” sighed Kiba, jumping to his feet.  “A really BAD mistake that’s not going to just go away.  Actually I’m surprised it didn’t come out sooner.”  He motioned to Robin.  “Here.  Point me in the direction of the bathroom, will ya?”

            He flowed with the current, bent with it.  Sliding up, around, and through him, it bent each and every which way.  Little eddies tickled through his fingers, dissipating into nothing at the ends of his fingertips.  He had no form, no limits, no…

            He hit a glass wall.

            Suigetsu reeled back into consciousness, slowly reconstructing his eyes and face to stare at the obstruction.  A few tentative feelers confirmed his suspicion—the glass enclosed him on all sides. 

            Stuck in a glass tube.  AGAIN.

            Suigetsu resisted the urge to bash his head into the wall, knowing it would do little good anyway.  In all his years in a tank, Suigetsu had fully learned all the limitations and benefits of tube-bound life, including the few ways you could entertain yourself.  Bashing your head into the wall was not one of them.

            Looking out of the glass wall, however, was.  And fortunately his new tube seemed to be in a much more interesting location than his last one.  It glowed with steel and blinking lights all over, and a few people in purple suits were walking around.

            Most interesting, however, the two people in front of his watery cage seemed to be looking directly at him.  The green man’s glowing orange eyes were particularly fascinating, but the girl standing next to him wasn’t bad either.

            After saying something to the woman that Suigetsu couldn’t quite catch, the green one turned to him again and his eyes glowed.

            Good morning.

            Suigetsu blinked.  What?  Where had that come from?

            Ah yes.  I am speaking in your head, it is known as telepathy.  As you are currently imprisoned and unable to understand our language, this was seen as the best way to contact you.  There was a short pause and then the voice said, While I’m in here, I’ll just implant the knowledge of English into your brain.  It’ll be much less troublesome that way.

            “Hey, hang on a…”

            “Good, he can speak English now.”  A disembodied voice floated into the tank—the woman’s, Suigetsu realized.  “Thanks, J’onn, now I can listen in too.”

            The green man, presumably J’onn, gave a polite nod and turned back to the tank.  “You are Suigetsu.  Would you kindly explain your attack on one of our league members?”

            League members?

            Oh.  They must be talking about one of the weirdoes in the tower.  “Which one?”

            The woman and man exchanged a glance.  “All of them, preferably,” responded the woman.  “I suppose we should start by asking why you attacked Titans Tower.”

            “Who’s what?”

            “Titan’s Tower?  The building you occupied?”

            “Oh, THAT place.”  Suigetsu shrugged.  “We needed a place to stay for the night.  It looked like a defensible position.”

            They exchanged another look.  “Didn’t you think it might be occupied?”

            “Well, yeah, we saw the lights.  Tough luck on them, I guess, but hey.”  He didn’t really see the point of this conversation.

            “Well…”  the woman seemed to be searching for something to say.  “Why’d you attack?

              “I told you.  We needed a place to stay.”

            “But couldn’t you have… you know… asked them?”

            Suigetsu blinked.  “But that would take all the fun out of the thing!  Oh, I suppose we could have stabbed them in their sleep or something, but that gets old fast.  The fight was a lot better.”  He scowled suddenly.  “Except for that idiot in the green tights.  When I get outta here, I’m gonna kill that kid.”

            Glancing down, he asked. “Any more questions?”

            “Well, if you’re not picky about bedding, we could stick you all in the training room, it should be big enough.”

            Naruto shook his head.  “Once Lee finds out this place has a training room…”

            “TRAINING ROOM?”  A green blur dashed up.  “There is such a place here?  I must find it immediately!  Already I have lost so much time, I will train TEN times as hard to make up for it.”  Lee stopped a moment and frowned, then brightened.  “No, I will train TWENTY times as hard and become even better to take my enemies by surprise!  Oooh!  Even better!  I will…”

            “It’s uh… that way.”  Pointing, Cyborg edged just the tiniest bit away from the enthusiastic chunin.

            Lee’s face flowed with tears.  “Thank you my youthful metallic friend!”  He dashed off.

            “As I was about to say, once Lee finds out this place has a training room, he’ll be in there all day.”  Naruto sighed.  “We can’t arrange for the others to sleep there.”

            Cyborg nodded absently, his mind still on something else.  “Youthful metallic friend?”

            “Oh, he calls everybody that.  Well, the youthful bit.  Not so much the metallic.’

            “Gotcha.”  Cyborg decided to give up on it and turned back to the problem at hand.  “So… training room’s out.”

            “Definitely.  Is there anywhere else?  That place we landed in looked pretty big.”

            Blinking, Cyborg stared at the boy.  “You COULD sleep in the hangar, I guess… if you guys don’t mind getting burned into pieces everytime a plane lands.

            “Hm.”  Naruto frowned.  “So that’s out too.”

            “Probably.  We don’t usually get a lot of traffic, but we might now that you guys are here.  And if someone needs to make an emergency landing, they’ll need to land FAST.”

            “Well right!  Sure!”  Naruto nodded emphatically.  “What else would they do?”

            Sighing, Cyborg tapped a few panels on his wrist computer.  “I wonder if Raven has a spare dimension we could use.”  He muttered.  “Probably not.  Let’s see… I guess we have a few storerooms we could clear out… most of them were fairly well-shielded from the blast.”  Rubbing his chin, he commented ruefully: “That’ll take a while, though.  We’ll need a lot of manpower.  Think you could get your friends to carry stuff out?

            “Ha!”  Naruto brought his hands.  “No need!  Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!”  A loud pooof, and soon there were twenty Narutos standing in front of Cyborg. 

            “What room do you want cleared out?” 

            “So… what’s the verdict?”  Superman asked the other two as they entered the room.

            The doctor rolled her eyes.  “I don’t know where you picked up that loony in the tank, but he’s a nearly certified psychopath. He almost NEEDS to be shut up.”

            “Excellent.”  Waller nodded.  “Please file a statement with the lawyers then, your recommendation added to the others should give the League just cause to detain him here as a prisoner of war.”

            The doctor gave a gracious nod and left as Superman turned to the others.  “So then.  No more worries on that score.  We’ve already discussed our plans for finding Luthor—between us and the government…” here he gave a grudging nod to Waller, “…we should get an idea fairly soon.  What else do we have?  J’onn, you said you might know something.”

            The green-skinned alien looked pensive.  “Yes, yes.” He nodded.  “Not about Luthor, though.  About the Anti-Life equation.” 

            Observing the various looks of confusion, he hastened to explain.  “It might be nothing… but ancient Martian philosophy postulated that free will might be defined in the form of a ‘Life Equation.’  It’s possible that Darkseid learned this and developed the concept of the ‘Anti-Life Equation’ in reaction to it.”

            “Or that your people learned somehow of Darkseid’s ambition and developed it in reaction to that.” Hawkgirl pointed out.

            Superman ignored her.  “So you know this equation?”

            Blinking, J’onn shook his head.  “I never said the Martians knew the equation… they merely postulated that such an equation existed.”

            “Am I the only one confused as to how, exactly, they thought you could prove free will mathematically?”  Mr. Terrific nearly exploded, throwing his hands in the air.  “Math implies logic.  Cause and effect.  One plus one is always two, two plus two is always four.  One cannot choose to become six and add up to twelve.  Free will has no place in mathematics!”

            The Martian Manhunter’s eyes narrowed.  “Pardon me for feeling some attachment to the ideas of my extinct race.  The theory ran that the universe could NOT be explained in terms of mathematics, thus proving that one plus one did not always equal two.”

            “Then that makes it not an equation!”  Mr. Terrific shot back.

            “So what you’re saying is that there’s a possibility the ‘Anti-Life Equation’ doesn’t exist,” cut in Superman, anxious to stop the fight.  “In fact, that it cannot exist.”

            “Yes.”

            “Which would be nice, except that it obviously DOES, since Luthor has it.”

            “Unless he doesn’t, because it’s not doing what it’s supposed to.”

            “Unless it IS!”

            “Shut up, Flash.”

            Groaning, Superman covered his hand with his hands.  “I just want to go back to the farm and raise cows.”   He muttered.  “Raise cows.  Why can’t super-heroing make any SENSE anymore?”

            “Hey, Superman, stay with us here.”  Green Lantern put out a hand and patted him on the shoulder.  “We’ve still got a job to do.”

            Superman raised himself up on his elbows and blinked blearily at the table.  “I miss the good old days of nuclear missiles and giant robots.”

            “I hear ya there.”  Flash grinned.

            “Is there a situation going on?  Anywhere?  For once I want to make the world better by punching someone.”

            “I imagine we’ve all had that impulse,” commented Batman drily, pressing a few buttons on the table.  “Unfortunately, that’s not going to do anything to solve the problem, so let’s break it up into smaller pieces to see what we can do.”

            A series of images floated into existence just above the table.  “J’onn, try to recall everything you can about the philosophy behind this ‘Life Equation’ and if any parts of it were figured out.  In the meantime, let’s get in contact with New Genesis and see if Darkseid has resurfaced by them.  For finding Luthor, I suggest we get Question…”

“No,” responded Superman flatly.  A series of nods came from around the table.

Batman arched an eyebrow.  “He did well when we set him on Cadmus.”

“When we set him on Cadmus he became convinced the world was about to end, tried to kill Luthor, and ended up captured,” came the response.  “Plus, his recent actions with the Konoha nin he captured make his ties to the League dubious.”

A short nod expressed Green Lantern’s approval.  “I recommend we hold off on giving him any more league assignments for a while.”

“Very well.”  With a surprisingly casual shrug, Batman returned to the table.  “We’ll go through the normal channels then.  But Mr. Terrific, I want you working on that portal we promised our visitors.”

Hawkgirl glanced at the Dark Knight in surprise.  “Are you crazy?  We need T’s head working on the Luthor problem.  If you ask me, those kids can just stick around for a bit, we might need their help.”

“Loose cannons.”  Green Lantern shook his head.  “They’re capable fighters, but I doubt they’d follow any strategy we suggested.”

“I’m still not sure we should completely trust them,” nodded Wonder Woman.

“Besides, we promised we’d work on it for them.  The best thing to do is fulfill that as soon as possible.”  Standing to his feet, Superman addressed the room.  “Very well then.  The only things we can do for now is search and prepare.  You all have your assignments, make sure they’re carried out.”

One by one the leaguers filed out, with Batman coming last.  He had been upgraded to a wheelchair and was swiftly healing, but his mobility was still limited.  Just outside the conference room he wheeled to a halt.

“Q.”

The faceless man emerged from behind a pillar.  “I take it I’m to be relieved of League duties.”

“For a while.  General consensus.”  Batman gave a short nod.  “Superman will give you details later.  In the meantime, I have some private work I want you to pursue.”

Question tilted his head in interest.

“Uchiha Sasuke.  He’s low on the League’s priorities right now, but he’s going to be a problem eventually.”  Batman’s eyes narrowed to slits.  “Find him.”

“Understood.”

            “Control room smashed, front of the building broken in, training room battered but still usable, submarine bay physically intact but equipment all fried, and primary reactors inactive.”  Cyborg listed off the pad in his hand.

            Rubbing his head in irritation, Robin tried to think.  “Secondary?”

“Still functional.”

“Well that’s something.  And the visitors?”

            “The guys are deposited in our old trophy room, the girls are setting up in one of our spare guest rooms.”

            “I assume our quarters are still intact.”

            “Eheheheh…. For the most part.  It looks like the psycho with the sword ripped up your room just for the fun of it, but outside of that, we’re good.”

            “Good.”  Robin nodded.  “I’d hate for Starfire to lose any of the few things she’s got left.”

            Grinning, Cyborg added.  “I’d hate for them to have stumbled into anything of Raven’s.”

            “Don’t even joke about that,” came the response.  “Speaking of which, where IS Raven?”

            “Hard to say.  Security systems aren’t back online yet.  Last I saw, she was headed toward her room… She’s probably still there.”  Cyborg shrugged.

            “Get security systems online as soon as you can.”  Robin ordered.  “We’re at our weakest right now and probably half the villains in town know it.”

            “Right.”

            “Yo!”  Robin and Cyborg both turned at the cheerful voice that invaded the doorway.  A grinning blonde poked his head in.  “The one… green kid said you wanted to see me.”

            “His name’s Beast Boy.  Gar, if you can’t get used to that.”  The sooner they figured out the name business, the better.  He had a feeling, though, that it would take time.

            The confused look Naruto sent him did encourage him.  “They both sound pretty weird.”

            “Get used to it.”  Turning, Robin picked up the papers Cyborg had printed out moments before.  “Are any of your people good at repairs?  Building?”

            Naruto shrugged.  “Sure.  We’ve all done plenty of D-class missions.”

            “You guys get ‘missions’ to fix houses?  Seriously?” Cyborg’s mouth gaped slightly.

            Another shrug.  “And do gardens.  And catch cats.”

            Robin decided it best to ignore the issue.  “What materials and tools do you usually work with?”

            “Uh… hammer and nails for tools… materials… I guess I’ve usually just handled the carpentry stuff, but some of the others know how to work with bricks and clay.”  Grinning suddenly, Naruto added, “Some of the girls might know how to work with screens and weavings.”

            This was going to be more difficult than he thought.  “I take it, then, that most of you haven’t done technical repair either, with computers or generators?”

            “Not… really, no.”  Naruto blinked.  “I guess… Shino might know how to work generators… they use them in his clan to keep the hives warm.  And Sakura—“ a spasm crossed his face for a moment, “—knows how to use computers.  But outside of that… not really.”

            Slightly surprised, Robin tilted his head.  “You have generators and computers in your world, but only wooden buildings?”

            “We have concrete ones too.  I hear they have other stuff in Amegakure, but I’ve never seen it,” came the response.  “Why?”

            Another issue to forego for now.  “Never mind.  Send Sakura up here so she can help Cyborg with the computers.  After that, collect the others and send them outside.  We’ll have to give you a crash course in metalworking.”

            “Metalworking?”

            “Please…  you promised to kill me…”

            “Miss Karin, I never promised anything.”  The bald man (Luthor, he had introduced himself as) stated calmly as he strode beside her.  “You merely volunteered information on the presumption that I would carry out your conditions.  I never said whether I would or would not.”

            Karin shivered at the intent in his words and fell silent.  Lying prone in her bed, she could see the hallway speeding past as the attendants pushed her towards—whatever gruesome fate they were surely planning for her. 

            The thought stirred her fear-numbed mouth into motion.  “Please, if you’ll just…”

            “Now Miss Karin, why should I possibly want to kill you?  You have proven to be my most valuable source of information thus far—I should hate to lose you at this stage.”

            “But I’ve told you everything…”

            Luthor snorted.  “You most certainly have NOT.”

            “What do you mean?  I told you about chakra, about handseals, about the others... What could I possibly have left to tell you?” 

Actually, there was quite a lot.  Karin did not have very specific information about the Nara, and none about the one “Tenten” girl.  Her knowledge about Naruto was only cursory—stuff from data files.  Nothing about his latest abilities or how they worked.

There could be any reason why Luthor found her information unsatisfactory.  But in her heart, Karin knew the real reason.

            Sasuke.  She had not told him anything about Sasuke.

            Even now, knowing that the man knew she was hiding something and would doubtless torture her to reveal it, Karin could not find it in herself to betray Sasuke.  It didn’t really make sense—after all, their team had never been close, and Sasuke especially had remained distant from her constant advances.  He had only the most passing concern for them.  And yet…  She still felt she needed to protect him.

Part of it was that she was probably still in love with him, she supposed.  But another part doubtless had to do with his behavior at the Kage Summit.

They’d been betrayed… by Zetsu, of all people, and exposed to the Kages.  The samurai had charged in, but Sasuke had made short work of them.  Then the Raikage had come.  Suigetsu and Juugo had tried to help Sasuke, but were soon both incapacitated.  Merciless and relentless, the Raikage had sacrificed his right arm in his attempt to kill Sasuke.  The arrival of the Kazekage had provided a momentary relief, but even then, things had looked grim until Sasuke called upon the Susanoo.  The impenetrable armor had forced the Kazekage and Raikage to flee.

Sasuke had saved her, demanding that she find Danzou and take him to him at once.

“Wh-what about the others?” She remembered herself stammering, half incoherent by the bizarre change in Sasuke’s personality.

“Forget them!  Find Danzou!”  He had roared.  But then his eyes had changed.  “And yet… they might still be helpful, I suppose.”

A quick flick from his Susanoo had saved Suigetsu and Juugo.  They’d all charged the Kage room—nearly gotten destroyed before being saved by Madarra—and then they’d all attacked Danzou.  They’d killed him.

But all Karin could remember was that moment of mercy on Sasuke’s part.  He’d been a leader.  He’d worked for the team.  For Karin, that instance of loyalty, however slight, was enough to keep her silent forever.

She could hardly explain this to Luthor, however.  So she simply continued, “Please, if this is about Naruto, I warned you about the Kyuubi, I told you…”

“That was not the Kyuubi.”  Words came out in a short clipped tone.  “He did not have the ‘chakra cloak’ you described.  He had something completely different, something you never mentioned.”

“I… he’s not on our side.  I don’t know everything he can…”

“Fortunately, I have decided to give you another chance.”  The group stopped in front of a white, glistening wall and the attendants adjusted Karin’s bed to face it.  “Something you can help me with.  Something you DO understand completely.”

At a click, the wall went transparent and Karin gasped.

“I believe you called him Juugo.  Your teammate.  I haven’t had time to do a full examination of him yet, but I’ve observed a number of genetic irregularities already.”  A trace of amusement came into his voice.  “Are you familiar with the principles of cloning?”

            The pale-eyed boy surveyed the beam floating above the ground with interest.  “Fascinating.  How do you do that?  Is it some sort of gravity jutsu?”

Raven ignored him.  “Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!”  The steel girder swept upward toward the collection of workers on the roof, where an orange and purple blur shot over and grabbed hold of it.

“She is waving to you and smiling.”  The boy—Neji—informed her.  “Now she is carrying it over to the indicated crossbeam…”

Flame burst from the roof.

“And now Ino is melting the girder in place.”  Neji nodded.  “Very good.”

The communicator on Raven’s cloak crackled into life.  “We need a couple lithium bindings on the south side.”

Raven touched the device.  “Can’t see you, Robin.”

“I shall do it!”  Suddenly a green whirlwind appeared at her elbow.  “I shall carry thirty thousand latrinium bindings up the building, and if I cannot do that, I will…”

“Three will be fine, thanks,” crackled the speaker, a touch of amusement in its static. 

“Hm.”  Raven grunted.  “They’re in Box A3, over there.”  She pointed.

“Yosh!”  Grabbing three boxes, the odd boy dashed across the water and up the side of the building at breakneck speed.

“Just what we need,” grumbled Raven.  “Another energy nut.  Does he realize those boxes contain thirty bindings apiece?”

Neji shrugged.  “He’ll be back in a moment with the others.”

A cloud of dust and an enthusiastic shout showed the truth of Neji’s words.  “Regretfully, I seem to have brought too many latrinium bindings to our youthful comrades on the roof.  Where shall I put the others!”

“Over there,” sighed Raven.

“Yosh!”  There was a clatter and a clang as the boxes hit the ground.  “What else do you desire me to do, youthful maiden?”

Youthful maiden?

“Lee, this island seems wonderfully adapted for training.  Why don’t you run thirty yards out and circle the island ten times?”  Neji’s voice was calm, reasonable.

Lee’s eyes seemed to explode with light.  “Ah-HA!  You are tricky, rival Neji, but I see through you!  I shall run around the island twenty—no, THIRTY times, and if I cannot do that, I will do sixty thousand push-ups!  Yosh!”  And the green blur of energy swept toward the water.

Turning toward her pale-eyed companion, Raven lifted an eyebrow.  He shrugged.  “You seemed to be disturbed by his presence.”

With a snort of agreement, Raven turned back toward the tower.  “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

A moment of silence passed between them, broken only by the occasional requests from the communicator and Raven’s manipulations of building material.  At times, Neji used his Byakugan to help her guide the materials to the other side.

Apparently curious, Neji broached the subject.  “So you cannot send items to places you do not see?”

“I can send them.  I just might smash into plenty of things on the way there,” responded Raven.  “It’s hard to maintain control over things you can’t see.”

Neji nodded.  “True.  That is your… power, then?”

“Among other things.”  Raven really did not feel like discussing her abilities with this stranger.  “I take it yours is to see through walls?”

“Among other things.”  Apparently he didn’t relish the concept any more than she did.

“Hm.  And your friend’s ability is to walk on water?”

“Actually, no.  All of us can do that.”

Oh right.  That was how the others had attacked.  “Like the firebreathing stuff, then.”  Up above she could just barely make out the blonde girl and the chubby boy, melting another girder into place.

“…in a way.”  Neji frowned.  “All of us can use firebreathing jutsus.  But Chouji and Ino have a special affinity for them.”

“Affinities?”  Just barely interested, Raven shielded her eyes to look up at the workers.

“Elemental affinities.  Each of us has a particular element that our chakra is suited toward.  Chouji and Ino’s is fire.  Mine is lightning.”

“Hm. And the others?”

Neji hesitated, obviously unwilling to reveal the information, but he finally shrugged and continued on.  “Sakura and Kiba are Earth types.  Shino, like me, is a Lightning type.  Sai and my cousin Hinata are Water types, and Naruto is suited to Wind.”

Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind.  And Lightning, apparently.  The spiritual elements, if you counted lightning as Quintessence.  “What about the green one?”

            There was a slight pause.  “Lee has no elemental affinity.”

            “None?”  A frown creased Raven’s face.  “I thought you said you could all do that.”

            “Lee is… unique.”

            “You don’t say,” snorted Raven.  She dropped the subject, though, instead asking: “So which one of you is the leader?”

            “Naruto,” came the answer.

             “That so.”

            Neji glanced sharply at her ironic tone.  “I have noted you do not seem to approve of Uzumaki-san.  Why is that?”

            “Approval has nothing to do with it.”  Raven answered.  “As a person, he’s annoying already.  That thing inside him just makes it worse.  I’d really rather not deal with the whole thing.”

            “The demon inside him… is that it?”  Neji’s face hardened.

            “Mm.”  Raven gave a short nod.  “Personally, I don’t understand why you guys would keep him around, much less make him leader.”

            “Probably for the same reasons your teammates keep you around,” replied Neji, his voice cold.

            Raven shrugged.  “I’ve never understood that either.”

            Sasuke was growing impatient.  The vehicle’s formerly impressive speed had slowed considerably, almost to a crawl, in his opinion.  “Can’t we go any faster?” he demanded of the driver.

            The driver, predictably, did not respond, and Sasuke gave up his quest with a sigh.  Although the genjutsu technically controlled the driver, it did so only in a cursory manner, and with images, not words.  His driver still could not understand him and thus could not answer any particular concerns. 

            Momentarily, Sasuke contemplated leaping from the car and returning to his journey on foot, but dismissed it as too overt.  The men in the vehicle ahead looked official, such an activity would surely be reported.  He needed to stay low.

            With a sigh of resignation, Sasuke reclined back in the seat and studied the vehicle ahead of them.  Large.  Boxy.  Very few windows, apparently very heavily armored.  Several people could be seen in the driver’s seat, wearing official suits and nervous faces.

            Guards.  Sasuke surmised.  For something in the vehicle, perhaps?  But…

            Suddenly an explosion rocked the road, sending both cars flying.

            “Gotcha!” rasped Two-Face as the armored car crashed down into the ditch.  “Two for the price of one.”  He noted, seeing the crashed truck next to the other.  “Not a half-bad day’s work.”  Furiously, he gestured to his men.  “Go on, then, boys.  Lots of coin in there, time to gather it all up.  Leave that.”  He added, pointing to the rocket launcher.  “Don’t need nothing burning up the money.”

            At that moment, however, things went slightly awry.

            A dark figure, clad in a voluminous trench coat, landed on the ground next to the armored car, cocking a quizzical eyebrow at it.  The teenager, tall with dark, spiky hair, though obviously very skilled, did not seem to be carrying a weapon of any kind.

            “Clear outta here kiddo.”  One of his men growled, waving around his gun for emphasis.

            Instantly the teen’s gaze darkened.  A sword slipped from his coat and into his hand.

            Only one kind of idiot tried to use swords in battle.  The superhero kind.  (Technically, the insane kind might too, but sometimes Two-Face really couldn’t tell the difference.)  Either he’d volunteered to go with the truck, or tracked it on his own, or simply shown up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

            Didn’t make a difference.  “Give ‘im two in the head.”  He muttered to the man.

            With scarcely a nod, the thug whipped up his pistol and fired.  The teen staggered back and fell over.

            Two-Face raised a disfigured eyebrow.  Usually those clowns moved around a lot more—the ones with swords at least THOUGHT they were fast enough to dodge bullets.  That guy had just stared at the gun as if he didn’t understand it.  Still.  No matter.  He was dead, that was the main thing.   “Now, get the money.”  He growled to his men. 

            Quickly a number clambered over the road and toward the truck.  Two-Face smiled as he heard the door being blown open, grinned at the sound of bullets executing the guards within, smirked at the screams of terror...

            Wait a minute.  That had been one of HIS men.

            Screaming, half the men he had just sent came streaking back over the road, firing backwards as they went.  Several collapsed in the middle of the road.  “What’s the problem with you idiots?”  Two-Face raged as the survivors approached him.  “A few guards too much for you?”

            “N-no… it was…”

            The answer came in the form of a dark figure that materialized on the road.  Straightening, the teenager from a few moments ago glared at Two-Face with murderous red eyes.

            Huh.  He coulda sworn that they’d hit the kid.  Was he bulletproof or a replicant or…  Naw.  Blood was pouring from a hole in his shoulder.  He’d been hit, just not in the head.  Stupid Murkley, couldn’t aim to save his life.  In this case, literally, smirked Two-Face as he recognized one of the bodies in the road.

            A grunt from the teenager recalled Two-Face to the present.  Right.  Vengeful wounded superhero-wannabe in the area.  “Kill him already!”  he growled at his men.

            This time, the teenager did not wait for them to fire.  Obviously learning from his previous encounter, he leapt and dodged before the guns could even track onto him.  His sword leapt and dodged amidst the thugs, slicing them into tiny ribbons.  Electricity shot from his hands, and fireballs spouted from his mouth.

            Two-Face had been in enough brawls to know when the getting was good.  He left his men to their fate.

            Sasuke straightened and glanced at the pile of corpses around him.  That seemed to be all of them… except for the one odd disfigured man.  That was disappointing, Sasuke would have liked to kill him too.  For a moment he contemplated tracking him down and doing just that, but quickly discarded the idea.  He was wounded and needed to seek care.

            A strange wound, though.  And a strange weapon that had inflicted it.  Though he didn’t exactly understand how they worked, he now had a healthy respect for the small projectile-firing weapons.  The weapons of this world were more dangerous than they appeared.

            In either case, it was over now.  Time to find out what they had all been so anxious to get.  Striding over to the odd vehicle he’d noted earlier, Sasuke pushed open the charred door at the back.

            Four of the guard-people from before.  All dead, all armed with the same odd weapons.  All surrounded by piles and piles of green paper.

            Was this what they were all fighting over?  Sasuke didn’t understand the point.

            Still, he picked up several handfuls of the odd green paper and stuffed them in his pockets.  If they were important enough to guard or steal, they were important enough for him to take.  Maybe they had dangerous jutsus encoded on them or something.

            His pockets finally stuffed, Sasuke turned to the door with a sigh.  His original driver was dead, he supposed he’d have to walk the rest of the way.  He strode to the door, but paused at the threshold and turned.

            His head cocked in thought as he studied one of the remaining weapons.

            “This is going surprisingly well.”  Robin muttered, examining the work done on the south side.  “If we keep this up we ought to have the essentials in place by tonight.”  Touching his communicator, he asked, “Cyborg, how are things on your end?”

            “Eh… the computers are going to take some work, but I think I got it covered.”

            A grin tugged at Robin’s face.  “What, the inter-dimensional ninja from steampunk Japan isn’t helpful?”

            “Dude, the most advanced language she knows is QBASIC.  In Japanese.”  Cyborg’s voice was just a touch pained.    “I don’t dare let her even near my babies.”

            “What about the generators?”

            “Okay, I guess.  That Shino kid understood enough to start up the secondary generators.  But again, don’t think I want him fooling around with the main ones.”

            “Hm.  Probably not.”

            “Other than that I think we’re all good.  Whaddaya want to do now, Boss?”

            Robin paused and thought.  “The crooks probably haven’t heard we’re back yet.  Anything on the scanners?”

            There was a short silence as Cyborg checked.  “Not anything major.  Some kind of disturbance downtown, but that’s it.  We don’t have all our scanners active, though, so we might be missing stuff.”

            “Hm.”  After thinking for a bit, Robin shrugged.  “We’ll do it the old-fashioned way then.  Cyborg, Beast Boy, do a few rounds of the city and see if you can drum out any criminals on your way.  Take two of the ninjas with you too, they should get to know the place.”

            “Sure thing boss.  On my way out now.”

            “Good.”  Robin clicked off the communicator.  “You!”  He pointed at one of the less active ninjas.  “Kiba, right?  Go grab your friend Neji and meet Cyborg down on the ground.  Beast Boy, go with him.”

            “Right!”  The two jumped away.

            On the mainland, a pair of glittering eyes watched four figures leap into the city.

            “Well now… That’s interesting.”

Chapter Text

                “Hm,” mused Kakashi as he re-entered the Hokage chambers.  “That didn’t go so well.”

                Yamato was only a step behind him.  “It could be worse, Hokage-sama.  At least we didn’t waste many men on it.”

                “Not in comparison to the other villages, no.  But that’s not what’s bothering me.”  Sighing, Kakashi took a seat at the desk, propping his feet up on it.  “What’s bothering me is how Madara apparently knew we were coming and was able to not only vacate the base but construct an elaborate trap like that.  And then there’s Kabuto…”  Shaking his head, the Rokudaime cast a longing look at a certain drawer in the desk.  “It’s disturbing, to say the least.”

                “He can’t always know what we’re doing.  We’ll stop him yet.”

                “Perhaps.  But it’s an unsettling trend.”  A final shrug announced Kakashi’s intention to drop the subject.  “Still, as you say, we didn’t lose nearly as many nins as the other villages did.  Scarcely ten ninjas, really.  Though of course, between Pain’s attack and the Sasuke fiasco, we can’t really afford to lose even THAT many.”

                Yamato gave a nod of assent and for a moment the two fell silent.  Unbidden, Kakashi’s single eye sought out a familiar picture on the wall.  Noticing, Yamato followed his commander’s gaze and found the same picture.

                “Are you sure they’re alright?” He asked after a moment.

                Kakashi’s eye crinkled in a smile.  “Oh yes.  If Sasuke was dead I’m fairly certain Madara would know somehow.  After all, he’s not about to lose track of such a valuable part of his plan.   And if Naruto was dead… I’m pretty certain I’d know.”

                “And they’ll come back?”

                A shrug.  “They always do.  To be honest, the only one I’m really worried about is Kiba.  With his dog stuck here, he won’t be able to perform most of his jutsus.”

                “So what’s this ‘patrol’ thing we’re doing for?”  Kiba asked as the four sped across the rooftops.  “Are we expecting an attack or just guarding against intruders?”

                Frowning, Cyborg considered how to answer.  “Eh… both, kinda.  On the one hand, we did hear of a disturbance downtown, but on the other, that might turn out to be nothing, so if something bigger comes up we take that.”

                “We’re not really guarding against… intruders, though.”  Beast boy offered, switching from gorilla to bird momentarily.  “We’re just looking to put down criminals.  Nothing so military as what you’re thinking.”

                Neji gave a quick nod to show his understanding.  “A form of specialized police.  The Justice League explained to us their standard protocol, I assume yours is similar?”

                Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged glances.  “We don’t really… bother with a protocol.”  Cyborg admitted.  “We just basically find the nasties and start bashing.”

                “I like you guys already,” grinned Kiba.

                “Well, that’s maybe a bit exaggerated.  We kinda play it by ear, I guess.  Go with what works.”  Cyborg shrugged.

                “Don’t worry about it too much.”  Beast Boy offered a wink to their followers.  “Sure, you’re new at this, but you’ll pick it up in no time.  Just follow our lead and you should be good.  You guys can handle yourselves, right?”

                Another short nod from Neji.  “I am capable of defending myself.  Kiba, how are you without Akamaru?”

                “Decent,” growled Kiba.  “I mean, I can probably only do half my jutsus, but half of totally awesome is still awesome, right?  Besides, I’ve already fought some of the lowlifes here.  They’re total pushovers.  No strategy to it at all.”

                “Yesterday’s game was extremely interesting, Mr. Nara.”  Shikamaru glanced up at the deep voice of his captor.  “I’m rather surprised at how quickly you picked up the principles of chess.”

                Managing a nonchalant shrug, Shikamaru replied, “It’s kinda similar to shougi.  Wasn’t too hard.”

                “Ah?  You are familiar with shougi then?  Perhaps then, to even the playing field, we should switch to that…”

                “Nah, I can deal.”  Shikamaru tried to ignore the rising feeling of wounded pride.  “Just another challenge, I’ll pick it up pretty quick.”

                A low chuckle came from the bald man.  “You’re quite the ambitious man, Mr. Nara,” mused he, rubbing his chin.

                Another shrug.  “I’m bored.”

                “You may be bored, but I’m rather busy, Mr. Nara.  I really can’t spare the time for more than one game a day.  Perhaps some of my assistants would like to entertain you.”

                “Whatever.  Are we playing today, then?”  Cocking his head, Shikamaru glared at the bald man.

                “Of course we are, Mr. Nara.”   The white wall before Shikamaru lit up, glowing with the checkerboard-tapestry of a very old game.  “I shall play black again.  As you went first yesterday, I believe I shall play first today.  Pawn to G4…”

                “Dr. Light?  You gotta be kidding me.”  Staring down at the pandemonium in the square Cyborg gave a bit of a grin.  “Well, at least you guys get a nice easy start.  Dr. Light is maybe the biggest moron this side of Mondo.”

                Beast Boy gave a snort of agreement.  “You think he’d know better after the pounding we gave him last time.”

                Returning Kiba’s glance, Neji offered a shrug.   From here, all he could see was a scene of mass confusion down in the square, largely centered around a man in an outlandish costume.  The man was declaring at some length about how he would destroy the city and dance in the ruins.

                “Something weird about all this, though… setting up shop in public isn’t really his style.”  Cyborg frowned.

                “Yeah.”  Matching Cyborg’s frown with one of his own, Beast Boy cocked his head on one side.  “And isn’t he usually, like… robbing some place?  Doomsday devices are kinda out of character for him.”

                “Perhaps he has learned since your last encounter?”  Neji suggested.

                Beast Boy rolled his eyes.  “This is Dr. Light.”

                “Doesn’t matter anyway,” stated Cyborg decisively, bringing up his arm cannon.  “He’s a baddie, so we take him down.  Yo!  Light!”  He shouted, his suddenly enhanced voice booming across the rooftops. 

                At the sound, Dr. Light glanced up, his eyes tightening in what looked like glee.  “Ah!  The Titans!  So you’ve come, as I knew you would.” 

 “We’ve done this before, dude.  Spare us all some trouble this time and just step away from the doomsday thing.”

“I think not.”  Dr. Light grinned, bringing up his arms in a battle pose.  “Not this time.  This time… I think I shall be taking revenge for the humiliation I have endured from you brats.”  As if just noticing, he frowned.  “But where are the others?  That Raven child especially… I have a GREAT deal to do to her.”

Beast Boy growled.

“Seriously, dude, don’t do this.  You’re just going to make things rougher on yourself in the end,” reasoned Cyborg.  “You really think it’s worth going through all this for a little money?”

Something changed in Dr. Light’s face.  “Money?”  A low chuckle issued from his throat.  “No, this isn’t about money.  Not anymore.  You see, I’m not quite as… harmless as you’re used to.”

Lasers exploded from the strange device behind him, lancing across the square, obliterating the wall beneath the Titans.  Caught off guard, all four teenagers tumbled earthward, debris raining alongside them.    All around the square, further explosions could be heard as lasers plowed through building after building.

                “Dr. Light?”  Superman frowned.  “That could be a problem.”

                Shrugging, Mr. Terrific answered.  “It’s not the first time he’s broken out of prison, Superman.  He hasn’t been an issue for quite a while.”

                “Perhaps not, but this sounds different—strangely devious for him.  You say he’s been out for a while?”

                “Impossible to say how long.  They only recently discovered that the Dr. Light they had imprisoned there was actually just a hologram.  He could have left at any time… maybe he was never even captured at all.  The Teen Titans WERE the ones to capture him, they might easily have made a mistake.”

                “Robin is Batman’s apprentice,” replied Superman, shaking his head.  “He doesn’t make mistakes… not like that, anyway.  But either way, using a hologram like that is awfully sly.  Too sly.”

                Mr. Terrific’s eyebrow jerked upwards in interest.  “You seem pretty worried about this, Supes.”

                “It’s nothing.”  Superman answered, turning away.  “Just an old problem, that’s all.  Now what else did you have to report?”

                For a second Mr. Terrific said nothing and simply studied the Man of Steel.  Finally, shrugging, he tapped the screen before him to bring up new reports.  “J’onn has retired to his quarters for meditation, like you said.  Question’s… gone, he turned off his communicator, but that’s probably just as well.  Orion, from New Genesis, called back, he said they haven’t seen any sign of Darkseid’s return.  He did note that they haven’t had much communication with Apokolips recently, so he might have returned without them noticing, but I’m pretty sure that if Darkseid was back, we’d know it.”

                “Probably.”  Superman agreed.  “What else?”

                “We have representatives from the FBI, the CIA, and the UN downstairs talking with Green Lantern in hopes of better synchronizing the search.  They sent us data regarding LexCorp activities in the years since the Darkseid invasion too, we’ve got some analysts looking through it.  The wounded Leaguers are still recuperating, but Blue Devil has asked to speak with you.  He says there’s something funny about one of the ninjas.  Also, Batman hitched a ride back to Gotham…”

                “What?”  Surprised, Superman’s head jerked up sharply.  “I thought the doctors hadn’t cleared him for active duty yet.”

                “They haven’t.  He went anyway.”  Mr. Terrific’s mouth quirked in a grin.

                Superman groaned.  “That man…”  Pressing his hand to his face for a moment, he willed the headache away.  “Very well.  What else is there?”

                “Not much,” shrugged the other. “Just the usual crisises… earthquake in Zimbabwe, giant robot in Dallas, some demigods duking it out above Moscow.  Nothing major.”

                A short nod was Superman’s answer.  “Alright.  I’ll head down to the conference room to see if I can help GL with the government people.  In the meantime, see what work you can get done on that portal.” 

                “What the heck is with this guy?”  Cyborg shouted as he struggled to his feet.  “He wasn’t nearly this bad last time!”

                Beast Boy struggled upwards, morphing into a monkey.  “No idea,” answered he.  “But this is getting bad, dude.  It’s all we can do to dodge the lasers from that device-thingie.  And he keeps deflecting any missiles we throw at him with that ‘light shield’ of his.”

                A whirring sound was all the warning they had.  Cyborg leapt away just as a powerful lance of light shot through the space he had formerly occupied.  Disappearing into a gnat, Beast Boy skillfully whipped around another, then sped over to Cyborg’s shoulder.  “Any ideas?” he croaked as he shifted into a raven.

                “None.”  Cyborg shook his head.  “First priority is taking out the big gun, obviously, but we can’t get close enough to touch it.  My arm cannon can’t penetrate the shield.”

                “Could you call Robin, maybe?”

                “Nope.  Tried already, but communications are still down at the tower, and something’s blocking my Titan Transmitter.  Outside of flat-out running to the tower, there’s no way to get the others down here.”

                There was another whirring noise and again they leapt away, just a second later than they should have.  Cyborg nearly tumbled to the ground, clutching his leg as he did so.  “I so did NOT need that.” He muttered. 

                Both heroes tensed at a whooshing noise, but relaxed the next second as Kiba and Neji landed on the ground just ahead of them.  Neither seemed to be breathing especially hard, but both were covered in dust and grime.  A nasty burn across Neji’s right sleeve indicated a near miss, and Kiba had a rapidly-forming bruise on his face.

                “This isn’t going so well.”  Kiba coughed.  “I thought you said this guy was a pushover.”

                “He is, usually.  Don’t know what’s up with him this time.”

                Shrugging, Neji adjusted himself into a defensive posture.  “I am not familiar with your enemy, but I have made a number of observations.  The lasers appear to fire at five-second intervals, and they…”

                There was a whirring noise.

                Another leap away, another leap together.

                “…they seem to track our movements.” Neji finished, slightly out of breath.  “Fortunately they seem to give us sufficient warning to move each time.  I believe, though, that they are using an optical tracking device… perhaps guided by this ‘Dr. Light’ himself.”

                Cyborg resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  “Yeah, we know.”

                “We gotta take out that big gun.”  Kiba grumbled. 

                “Again, yeah,” nodded Beast Boy.   “We were just discussing that.  But Cyborg’s cannon just gets deflected, and we can barely dodge the lasers at this range.”

                “Then perhaps we might use a distraction.  How…”

                Whirring.  A jump.  Another jump.

                “Don’t know if a distraction will work,” Cyborg commented ruefully, “they can follow all of us as well as one of us.”

                 “We need cover.  Neji, do you have your smoke bombs?”  Kiba glanced to the other.

                “Some.  I used a number in the fight with Sasuke.  You?”

                “I have a few left.”  Kiba shook a few orbs into his palm.  “They ought to be enough to keep us hidden.”  A whirring noise made them all look up.  “Right after this we all charge, okay?”

                “But…”  the ninjas leapt away and the Titans were forced to follow suit.  “… that’s not…” Cyborg sighed.  “Aw crap.  They’re gonna die.”

                “Might as well try and give them some cover.”  Beast Boy shrugged, quickly shifting into a hawk and diving toward the erupting column of smoke that marked the ninjas attack point.  Cyborg whipped out his cannon and began pounding away at the device, watching each blast get deflected away.

                Dr. Light was staring straight at the smoke.  “Science lesson, high schoolers!”  he chuckled.  “The term ‘light’ is used to encompass all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, including not only of the visible colors which one can perceive, but also the invisible ones, such as infrared, ultraviolet, and x-rays.”

                The lasers began to whirr as the smoke column grew.  Dr. Light smirked.  “And I can see in ALL of them.”

                “Quite a strong defense there.  You seem to like to use your knights, Mr. Nara,” observed Luthor. 

                It was starting to disturb Shikamaru how easily this man could read him.  “Do I?” he answered carelessly.  “They’re useful, I guess, and pretty flexible, but outside of that I can’t say I think about them that much.”

                “You’re far too modest, Mr. Nara,” chuckled the man.  “Knights are an excellent piece for the experienced player to use, being both flexible and unpredictable.  Novice players do not know how to use them.  In this case, you’ve used your knights to build up a comprehensive and flexible defense.  I’m almost impressed.  Almost.  Pawn to H7.”

                Drat it.  Now his shielding line of pawns was broken, putting his queen in danger.  How could the man break apart his defense with a simple pawn like that?  There were any of seventy-nine different possible outcomes from the current layout of the board.  Or maybe there were eighty-two.  A few moments ago Shikamaru had only seen fifty-three possible strategies, and his captor had shown him the one he hadn’t thought of.

                Shikamaru wished he could think properly.  He wished he could steeple his fingers and press them together.  That always seemed to help, maybe it would clear his mind, help him form some kind of strategy.  But, his arms being manacled down, he could only close his eyes and think as deeply as he could.

                Though knights were his favorite, the queen was a powerful piece and could not be ignored.  At the very least, he needed to make his opponent pay dearly for her.  However, given the position, that was simply not possible.  He needed to defer any action then, reinforce his queen with another piece.  Not a knight, that would be too obvious, and his knights were in too critical of positions to move anyway.  It would have to be something else.

                Finally he opened his eyes.  “Bishop to F10.”  He said.

                Theoretically, Hinata was supposed to be helping on the repair of the Titan’s Tower.  Theoretically, she was.  But she had neither the physical strength for heavy lifting, nor the skill for using tools, nor the right elemental affinities to be of any actual use.  At the moment, then, her only role was to run tools to the different workers on the tower—a rather simple job, as few of the workers were actually using tools.  So, Hinata had plenty of time to confront a topic that had begun to bother her more and more lately.

                What is happening to me?

                She didn’t know HOW she’d helped Ino… indeed, she didn’t quite understand what Ino had needed help with in the first place.  But the ‘metas’ had started to treat her strangely after that, and even Sai and Ino had begun to look at her oddly.  The most she could figure out was that she’d done something she shouldn’t have been able to do.  Still, she hadn’t thought much of it before she’d spoken with the odd blue man.

                “Ya mean ya don’t know?”  The man looked from one to the other.  “That’s funny.  That’s real funny.”

                “Wh-what do you mean?”  asked Hinata again, glancing fearfully from Naruto to the strange man.

                A shrug came in response.  “Not sure, to be honest.  It’s just… the demon side of me is getting a really weird vibe from ya.  Pretty different from the demon kid here, too.  Not sure what it is I’m feeling, but it sure ain’t a demon.  That’s why I asked, I figured you might know what it was, but if not…”  Another shrug.  “…than I dunno what to make of it.  It’s just sorta weird.”

                “Uh, yeah.”  Naruto was looking at the man now too.  “You sure about what that?  Hinata’s not really the host of anything, so far as I know.”

                “N… no, I’m not.”  Hinata quickly agreed.  “I’m not anybody special.”

                The man’s eyes narrowed.  “Not a host, eh?  Or even with any weird abilities?”

                “Hinata, you’re the head of the Hyuuga clan. Or at least the heir.  You guys can see chakra pathways and target them directly and all SORTS of stuff.  You’ve got plenty of awesome abilities.”  Naruto grinned.

                “That so?”  Arching a demonic eyebrow, the man glanced at her curiously.  “I’d like to see that.”

                Hinata hesitated a moment before weaving her fingers in a seal.  “Byakugan!”

                Instantly she could see everything.  Picking out her friends was easy. Sakura was on the lower levels, talking with Sai and Ino.  Chouji and Lee seemed to be wandering around the cafeteria area.  Neji she saw about three hallways away… probably watching her.  Kiba and Shino were studying something on a level above her.  But all that was secondary to what was before her.

                The man in bed was glowing.  Not as a chakra network… there was no fine tracery of veins, no clusters marking vital organs, no tenketsu, nothing.  His body simply glowed with energy.  She couldn’t quite call it chakra, it was… more, somehow.  Red, and yellow, and shifting flames glowing all over his body.

                There was more.  Hinata knew there was more, something else in this room was odd, but what…

                And then she saw it.  It was her.

                Light, similar to the blue man’s, and yet very different, flickered over her skin.  It entered at the pores and sliced through her body, she could even see it going up through her teeth and beaming out her temple to flicker out again.  Her chakra network was still there… she could see that.  But the strange white glow whipped around, over, and through her, penetrating and shielding her very being.

                With a gasp she lost control of the Byakugan and suddenly was back to normal vision again, seeing only a somewhat confused Naruto and a slightly focused blue-scaled man.

                “Hm.”  The man shook his head.  “Nope.  Didn’t feel anything when she did that.  Whatever’s up with you, kid, it’s nothing to do with your hereditary stuff.  Must’ve happened when you crossed over to this world. Sorry I can’t help any more th’n that, It’s not like anything I’ve felt before… the closest I can say is that ya feel something like my trident.”

                Although also confused, Naruto gave a little grin.  “I’ll bet it’s some awesome new jutsu ability.  Wouldn’t that be cool, Hinata?”

                Hinata managed a weak nod.

                “Hinata?  Hey, Hinata?”

                The voice of a very particular person recalled Hinata from her memory.  “Ah!”  she started, suddenly realizing her forgetfulness.  “I… I’m sorry!  Oh, I’m sorry!  Wh-what did you w-want, Naruto?”

                He shrugged.  “Nothing much.  The others are just going in for break, and it looked like you were kinda out of it, so… are you going in to eat or just sit out here?”

                “N-no!  I-I’m coming!”  Scrambling to her feet, she jogged after Naruto towards the building’s edge, preparing to leap off and join the others on the ground.  At the very brink she paused to gaze out on the city that was to be her new home.

                There, standing on the water about halfway between the city and the tower, was a tall man in a green trenchcoat.  From this distance, she could just barely catch the brilliant red of his hair, but even so she somehow felt that he was looking her directly in the eyes.  A small gasp escaped her as she stared out on the water.

                “Hinata!”  Again her crush’s voice snapped her out of it.  “You coming?”

                Glancing back up, Hinata saw the man was gone.

                “Y-Yes.”  She answered, desperately trying to calm the throbbing in her eardrums.  “Yes, I’m coming.”

                “What the heck is ‘infared light,’ anyway?”  Kiba screamed at Beast Boy.

                “It’s an… invisible light thingie!”  Beast Boy screamed back.  “It’s like… a heat signature or something!  You can see anything that’s warm!”

                “Well what’s an x-ray?”

                “It lets you see through walls!”

                “Well what’s a Gamma ray?”

                “I have no idea!”

                They were shouting because there was really no other way to hear each other right now, what with the explosions going off all around them and the both of them leaping through the air at high speed.  A long charred mark ran along one side of Kiba’s jacket, indicating a near miss from his earlier escapade.  Cyborg and Neji could be seen on the other side of the square.

                “So it’s kinda like the Byakugan, then?  Except like in one direction?”

                “Sure!  Why not?”

                “Then we’re probably in trouble!”

                “I figured that out myself, thanks!”

                The explosions were starting to lessen, and the two took advantage of the pause to leap over towards Cyborg and Neji.  By unspoken consent, they did not stop this time, but instead continued running in a wide circle around the device.  A substantial part of Neji’s left sleeve was charred, but aside from that he was unharmed. Cyborg, by contrast, had a sizeable hole in his right side.

                “Just fixed that.”  He grumbled.  “Okay, so no more rushing the bad guy, okay?”

                “Okay.”

                “We may have to at some point.”  Neji pointed out.  “We just need to figure out a more… distractionary method.”

                “We’ve already been over this.  Distractions won’t work, the gun has auto-tracking.  Cover won’t work either, Dr. Light apparently now has omni-sight, or whatever you wanna call it.”  Beast Boy reminded them.

                “Yes.”  Neji frowned.  “You didn’t mention he had that ability.”

                Cyborg shrugged.  “He didn’t last time we fought him.  But, for future reference, auto-tracking guns usually have some kind of infrared scanner.  It’s just easier for computers to use.  That’s why we figured you guys would need help.”

                “The guns sense heat then?”  Kiba frowned.  “Why don’t we make a bunch of heat for them to fixate on, while the rest of us rush in?”

                Cyborg considered it.  “Might work, except Light’s guiding them too.  He might see through it.”

                “Also we don’t really have anything flammable around here,” pointed out Beast Boy.

                Furrowing his brow, Neji considered.  “I think I may have a solution to both of the problems.”

                “Diana?  You done smashing things in here yet?”

                “Not by half.”  The Amazon grunted, wiping sweat from her forehead.  “But come in anyway.”

                Shrugging, Shayera entered the room.  “Was planning to.  Figure you might as well try to hit a sparring partner instead of more ZA-trainers.”  She glanced around at the mangled robot bodies on the floor.  “Say, if it’d make you feel better, you could tell the computer to make them look like that one pink-haired girl.”

                “This isn’t about that.”  Wonder Woman turned and smashed in another robot head.  “Or rather, it is, but it’s not the girl I’m upset at.”

                “Sure,” snorted Shayera.

                “I’m serious.”  Diana replied, throwing the Thanagarian an annoyed look.  “The girl was a dastardly dishonorable warrior who doesn’t deserve to be a woman, but that’s not the point.  The point is that I lost to a dastardly dishonorable warrior.”

                “So?”

                Diana sighed.  “And that I lost in Gotham.”

                “Well what does… OH.”  Shayera stopped and pondered.  “Oh.  Damn.  He’s left already, I take it.”

                “Yes.”  Diana smashed in another head.

                “He say anything?”

                An annoyed huff came in reply.  “To me?  No.  He just made a general comment about how he needs to get back to Gotham City to repair the damage.”

                “Ouch.”

                “Exactly.  He refuses to actually tell me I failed, because he more or less thinks it was inevitable.”  One smooth fist barreled forward, sending a robot body flying across the room.  “I am the princess of the Amazons, the chosen warrior of Athena, I shouldn’t have to put up with his… his… deMEANing manner!”  A particularly strong punch shattered another robot into tiny bits.

                Curiously, Shayera grinned.  “And yet, you do.”

                “That’s not important.  What’s important is…  is… is…”  Diana stopped and for a moment just stood there, panting slightly as the robots obligingly backed up.  “I’ve been trying to get into that city of his for YEARS, Shayera.  The whole League has been trying to convince him to let us help there.  And finally, the one time he lets me in there, I get captured by a few dishonorable striplings with no honor or talent!  The same ones he defeated a few days ago!”

                Shayera said nothing.

                “He’ll never let me in again.”  Diana muttered softly, almost to herself.  “He’ll never let ANYONE to help in Gotham anymore, because this’ll just validate his… his… STUPID, ARrogant, EGO-CENTRIC belief that only HE can save Gotham!”  Several robots exploded apart in a burst of anger.

                “Men are like that.”  Shayera agreed.

                “I shouldn’t have to deal with this.”  Wonder Woman sighed.

                Shrugging, Shayera crossed her arms.  “So don’t.  Fly right into that little trash-heap and show him he’s wrong.”

                “Not that simple.”  With a wry smile, Diana signaled a new wave of robots to advance.  “Flying in there would just make things worse right now.  He’d view it either as an invasion or an insinuation that he can’t handle the city with third-degree burns all over his body.”

                “He can’t.”

                “Since when has that ever made a difference with him?”

                “Hm.  True.”

                “Even if he didn’t view it as a direct insult, he still wouldn’t change his opinion of me or Gotham.”  Diana sighed, smashing through the last robot in line.  “He’d just view me as a hindrance to his work there.  If my time there hadn’t been such a complete failure, it would be one thing, but as it is…”  With a wave she shut off the simulator and it returned to normal.  “…as it is it’ll take nothing short of a miracle to make up for it.”

                The two women stood there for a moment, lost in the silence of contemplation.  Finally Shayera proffered her mace.  “Wanna do a short round in practice Room 8?”

                “Hera yes.”

                Where did those brats disappear to now?  Dr. Light scanned the battlefield with annoyance.  His guns, his wonderful guns, could still track them at this range, but it was slightly harder for Light, even with his several-wavelength  vision, to pick them out amidst all the rubble.  In all likelihood, they were still running like scared rabbits in a desperate attempt to dodge the guns.

                Dr. Light just barely suppressed a smirk.  The idiots honestly thought they were dodging the guns?  Lasers, by nature, traveled at the speed of light.  You barely even needed to lead a target to hit it properly. The computers aboard his wonderful cannons were as capable of making such an alteration as of simply alternating guns to eliminate the five-second interval that was saving the hapless heroes.

                No, the so-called heroes were not actually dodging the lasers.  The lasers were just playing with them.  These ‘Teen Titans’ would die when Dr. Light was ready for them, and not a second before. 

                For a moment he wondered if he should wait until the other Titans arrived.  It would be SO much more satisfying to kill the teammates in front of each other.  He’d save that Raven one for last, make her watch as he killed the others one by one.  But no… he shook his head.  Fun was fun, but at the end of the day, he had to get things done.  The League might show up if he dragged this out too long.  No, best to kill them and get it over with.

                A sudden whirr from the guns aroused his attention.  Something new was happening.  Yes, he saw it now, the Titans were making a straight dash up the center, once again trying to hide within the smoke from the crashing buildings.  He could see them, all together in one blur of infrared.  Smiling, he altered the settings on his guns.  Not kill… oh no, not now.  Capture.  He’d not let this foolhardy attack speed up his plans any.  He’d kill them in his own good times.  As the whirring of the guns reached their apogee he could scarcely contain his glee… at last!

                But why weren’t they even dodging?

                The lasers fired as one, striking the single point with deadly accuracy.  The heat generated on impact blinded his infrared vision, he switched to x-ray…

                …and watched in disbelief as two of his assailants exploded into smoke, while the third spun around rapidly, seemingly unharmed.  The smoke cleared away to reveal a tall pale youth with long dark hair, shielded by a whirling ball of energy.  Several still-burning torches lay at his feet.

                A cry caused his head to whip up rapidly, seeing a huge green eagle sweeping toward his precious guns.  His hand shot up, and a burst of light knocked the eagle from the sky.  Catching a blue glow, he whirled around again to see the robotic one preparing to shoot his cannon.  Another burst of light knocked him off balance, sending the energy beam streaming harmlessly into the sky. 

                He didn’t see the leather jacket-clad nin who whistled over his head and tossed three kunai at the heart of the machine.  He did, however, hear the ping as they bounced off the solidified light shield.

                “Oh c’mon!”  The ninja had exactly that long to complain before another solid shot of light knocked him off his feet.

                “An admirable attempt, but ultimately pointless!  Your feeble weapons are useless against me!”  Dr. Light laughed.  “You cannot break through my solid light holograms!”

                “Solid light?”  The tattoed one glanced over to the green boy.  “How on earth does that work?”

                A shrug was his only response.  “I don’t get it either, but that’s how it works.”

                “My genius is beyond your comprehension!” roared Dr. Light triumphantly.  “My mind has been returned to me, and it is all it ever was and more!  Nothing is beyond my grasp!  I can… what are you doing?”

                This last statement was directed at the pale boy, who still stood before him, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.  “I have noticed,” said he, “that your device contains a great deal of Raiton energy.”

                Dr. Light did not even have the chance to ask about the significance of that before lightning exploded out of the energy core.

                “Dude!  I didn’t know you could do that!”

                Neji, still panting, didn’t bother to respond.  Kiba volunteered.  “If your element already exists in the nearby area, it’s much easier to manipulate.  That’s why Earth types like me can have such an easy time of it.”

                “My guns!”  A distressed cry re-awoke the heroes to their situation.  Dr. Light, apparently having recovered from the blast of energy, was staring back at the destroyed machine with a mixture of sorrow and anger.  “My beautiful guns!  They’re… gone!”

                “Yeah, we were there.”  Cyborg informed the fallen supervillian, cocking his cannon into position.

                Grinning, Beast Boy added, “I’d say we’re sorry, but I don’t really think he—“ pointing to Neji, “—is, and I know I’m not.”

                “Time to head back to your cell, buddy.”

                A dangerous glint came into the doctor’s eye.  “Back there?  Back to prison?  I think not.”  Glowing orbs of energy began to surround his hands.  “I don’t think I shall be returning to prison for a long, long time.  You’ve set me back, it’s true, but I think what I have left is MORE than sufficient to deal with you… annoyances.”

                Kiba snorted.  “Annoyances who just trashed your—“ the rest of his sentence was cut off as a solid burst of light knocked him clean off his feet.  Neji, still winded from two low-level Katon jutsus and one VERY significant Raiton manipulation, barely managed to block the next blast with his Celestial spin.  Beast Boy  and Cyborg managed to skillfully dodge the next ones shot at them.

                With the annoying cannons gone, the fight began in earnest.  Kiba was knocked out cold and Neji not in peak condition, but the two Titans felt they would be able to make up for their teammates.  Both had fought Dr. Light before and had a familiarity with his basic tools.

                However, they soon found that this was a much different Dr. Light.

“No, Sai, I’m hanging on to the forks and knives.  AND the chopsticks.”  Ino glared at her pale companion. 

                “But how am I supposed to eat?”

                “With a spoon, I suppose,” snorted she in reply.  “I don’t particularly care, so long as you don’t use anything sharp.  I am NOT giving you any more pointy things to stab into your hand.”

                “Ino-san, you have nothing to fear from that quarter.  My repeated experiments have convinced me, that, as physical pain has no affect on my surroundings, there is no point in continuing them.  I acknowledge now that we are not in a genjutsu, but rather in a separate dimension.”

                Eyes narrowed, Ino studied him for a second.  “You’re not just saying that in an effort to subvert the genjutsu by pretending it’s fooled you, are you?”

                Sai offered her one of his widest, falsest smiles.  “Of course not, Ino-san.  May I have the forks?”

                “No.  Use your spoon.”

                With a nonchalant shrug, Sai turned back to his meal.  Ino eyed him suspiciously for a few more moments before turning to her own meal with a sigh.  Honestly, once he got an idea in his head, you couldn’t drag it out of him with…

                Darkness racing past—another face white in the gloom—walls shifting to ceilings—someone shouting—the face from before, its skin melting away to reveal the fangs and bone beneath—lightning-flash of the kunai—red splatter of blood…

                “Ino?”

                Sai was looking at her.  “Ino-san, aren’t you going to eat your potatoes?”

                “Ah… huh.”  For a second Ino had stopped breathing.  She took a few moments to glance around the cafeteria, note the others, the Titans, the food.  Tentatively she felt the cold of the table beneath her hand.  “Right… potatoes.”  She bent down to the plate, trying to hide the trembling of her hand.

                Again.  It had happened again.  More vivid, more disturbing than the others.

                The flashes had been coming to her since she’d woken up in that strange hospital.  A few moments after being awoken by the dark man in the white coat, a few random images had flashed into her mind.  Mostly senseless… a few people sitting in a wide room, writing things down… it looked like the Academy.  But later, it’d happened again with Shino, just as they were lying in bed there—a few flashing images of pages in a book being rapidly flipped through, each image as vivid as it was transitory.  And then Hinata…

                Ino stopped and shivered.

Something wasn’t right.   The Yamanakas had always had a certain… detachment from their own consciousness, but this… her mind felt loose.  Open.  It was as if a tense muscle in her brain had suddenly relaxed and left a hole for thoughts to spill out.  She’d never had this problem before, why now?

Maybe something was wrong with her chakra flow.  She could have Hina… Neji look into it. He might be able to see what the problem was.  Or perhaps it was something more biological, that Sakura could figure out.  Maybe shifting dimensions had just strained her mind somehow and she just needed to rest.  Yes, that was probably it.  She hadn’t really had much chance to rest—except for the first twelve hours they’d spent chained to beds.  More rest, that was all she needed.

“Do you need more food, fellow non-earthling?”  the cheery orange girl was back.  Ino looked up to say no.

Darkness—cold metal on the skin—grunts, roars, echoing off of serpentine hallways.  The jangle of a key as it hit the floor—walls flying past—a lizardlike face, crack of bone as his head bent back—green light—razors glinting on the wind—pain…

“Ino-san?”

                “What the--?”  Cyborg gaped at the new hole in his torso.  “How’d you… that shot out of the streetlight!”

                “True.  A source of light, like any other.  I merely control it and amplify it, oscillate the wavelength, and hey presto!  A new laser!”  Dr. Light smirked.  “Not nearly as powerful as my wonderful guns, mind you.  They won’t kill you, just cause an intense burning sensation.”

                “Hey!”  Beast Boy had found something else out.  “What’s with the flying laser balls?”

                “Orbs, my good sir.  Orbs.  Light is… well, light, even when solidified.  Child’s play to manipulate and guide.”

                Another laser caught Cyborg in the back and he grunted in pain.  “No biggie,” answered he, wiping blood from his mouth.  “So you’ve got some new toys.  You always do.  We’ll just trash you.  Like we always do.”

                “All things change, Cyborg.  Just like I did.  All things die.  Just like you will.”

                “Like shit I will.”  Whipping around his cannon, Cyborg fired at the laughing madman.  It bounced harmlessly off his armor, but the impact knocked him backwards several feet.

                Glancing over, the doctor’s eyes narrowed.  “That’s starting to get bothersome.”  His arm whipped out and lasers burst from his fingertips.

                But already Neji had appeared in front of Cyborg.  With a quick spin, he deflected the lasers away and tossed a kunai at their attacker—a kunai with a small note attached.

                BOOM!

                “Dude, you’re crazy fast,” observed Cyborg, watching the doctor fly across the square.  “How’d that work, anyway?  Exploding paper?”

                “Tags.  I’ll tell you later.”

                “Whatever.  Now that we’ve got some breathing room…”  Cyborg aimed his cannon and shot down an entire row of street lights.  “There.  Less distractions now, should let us concentrate on the main target.  How many of those paper thingies you got left?”

                “Not many.  And I’d like to save them for an emergency.”

                Although inclined to point out that this WAS an emergency, Cyborg simply shrugged off the refusal.  “Fine.  Look, see, if you can free up Beast Boy by taking out those laser balls.  I’ll keep Light off your backs.” 

                “A surprising move, Mr. Nara.”

                “I doubt it.”  At this point, Shikamaru found it hard to believe that this man COULD be surprised, at least by anything within Shikamaru’s skill range.  He seemed to have every eventuality covered, every attack point guarded.  Worse, he seemed to have geared both his attack and defense precisely against Shikamaru.

                “Regardless, it’s not something I would have expected from you.  Pawn to C4.”

“You love your pawns, don’t you.”  Or rather, he didn’t, he just liked to sacrifice them.  Shikamaru felt the game was swiftly going downhill.  Though he had a better feel for his opponent now, he could tell quite clearly that his opponent had a far better feel for him.  And that unsettled him, for more than one reason.  Could this game have an ulterior motive? He wondered.  Is he using this game as an indirect form of interrogation, a way of deciphering my personality and weaknesses?

                It was a fascinating concept, and Shikamaru resolved when he got home (IF he got home) to speak to his father about the possibility of using Shougi in interrogations.

                And if he IS doing that.  Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, perhaps the best idea would be to reverse my strategy as much as possible.  Shift my aggressive pieces to defensive positions, use my defensive pieces aggressively.  It wasn’t a bad idea.  By this point, Shikamaru felt he was losing the game anyway.  The best he could do would be to get a feel for how his captor reacted to other strategies, while at the same time throwing off his captor’s psychological profiling (if that was what he was doing).  He’d be in a better position to win the next game.

                The first thing to do, then, was to move some of his bigger players to a holding position.  “Knight to G10.”  He remarked

                “Good to have you back, Master Wayne,” commented Alfred as he pushed his master’s wheelchair into the cave. 

                “Thank you, Alfred.”  With a wave of his hand, Batman directed the butler to take him to the computer.  “Have you readied the exo-suit for tonight?”

                Alfred’s face did not stir.  “I thought it prudent to wait until you could walk, sir.”

                “The entire point of that suit is to help me when I’m not at peak capacity,” growled Batman, leaning into the computer as they approached it.

                “That’s nice, sir, but may I remind you that the suit is still a prototype, and, in fact, broke your leg the last time you tried it.”

                “The latest series of tests show it’s been working satisfactorily.”  Batman began to type on the computer.  “Further delay is not an option, I’ve been away from Gotham for three days already, I can’t afford to take any more time off.  I imagine crime’s already at a peak.”

                “Actually, sir…”  But Alfred’s information was suddenly disregarded in favor of the images filling the screens.  Images of newspapers.  Newspapers bearing a very familiar image, and some rather provoking headlines.

                Wonder Woman Sighted in Skies!

                A New Face in Town: Is the League Moving to Clean Criminals?

                Princess of Amazons comes to Gotham!

                Dark Knight’s New Partner!

                Batman slumped over in the chair.  “She didn’t…” he groaned.

                “Well how did you expect the lady to find the fugitives?” suggested Alfred respectfully.  “One cannot search from a plane, after all.”

                “I didn’t expect her to find the fugitives at all, Alfred.  I expected her to sit still and wait until I returned.” 

                “In short, sir, you expected nothing from her at all.  I am hardly surprised she did not fulfill those expectations.”

                With a snort, Batman leaned back.  “I suppose I should have known better.  To expect someone like her to work within my rules…” He shook his head.  “I should never have let her into the city.”

                “If I may, sir…”  Alfred dipped past his shoulder and tapped a few keys on the console.    A new series of images filled the screen.

                Batman studied the screen for a moment.  “That’s unusual.”  He muttered.

                “Unusual?  Sir, I was under the impression that it was unprecedented for someone to stand up to Bane.”

                “Unprecedented for someone sane to do so, perhaps,” snorted Batman.  “This, though… a lone security detachment from the bank firing on him… this is definitely strange.  Most people are simply struck dumb by his mere size.”

                “Observe the other articles also, sir.  Socialites at a town party tackling Scarface when he attempted to hold them hostage.  A bank robbery failing because the clerk simply refused to comply.”

                “Fortunate that the robber’s gun was not actually loaded.”

                “Indeed.  But I believe most robberies would have gone uncontested.  The reports from the police station are worth studying also, sir.”

                Glancing them over, Batman made a small noise of interest.  “Seventeen stool pigeons?  One of them from Dagget’s group, even.  And two more unidentified visitors… most likely high-ranking gangsters going over also.”  He narrowed his eyes.  “Why now?  Why so suddenly?  It’s too convenient… a ruse, most likely—but how would you coordinate it with the rival gangs?  A separate party, then, planting men in the other gangs to destabilize them at the proper moment.  But who would benefit?  Outside party… perhaps…”

                “If you would care to read through the statements taken down, I believe you may find a more prosaic answer, Master Wayne,” interrupted Alfred.  “The criminals who turned themselves in seem to have been under the impression that a crackdown on the Gotham gangs was imminent.  One of them used the term ‘the jig is up,’ I believe.”

                Batman took a moment to study the records.  “Hm.  I see.”  Frowning, he leaned back, considering.  Thoughts flickered across his face.

                “Pardon me, sir, there is one further matter.  You asked about the crime rates, I believe.”  Another click, and a few graphs came on-screen.  “Apparently there has been a sharp dip just recently.”

                Without saying a word, Batman’s eyes traced the graphs, analyzed them, drew conclusions.  Alfred patiently waited.  The connections between the different points of information was easy to draw, he just hoped the master would be able to admit it.  The deepening frown across Batman’s face did not give him great hope, but still, surely he would recognize at least the possible benefits of the situation.

“Perhaps you will not be needed after all tonight, sir?”

Batman’s gaze turned on his butler.  “Prepare the exo-suit, and run it through a few more simulations if it makes you feel better.  Contact Batgirl too.”

A sigh.  “Very good, sir.”

                “Aw yeah?  Take some more of this!  And this!  And THIS!”  Three blasts of pure crackling energy pounded into a quickly-formed wall of light.

                Despite his brave words, Cyborg felt that the fight was going swiftly downhill.  What with three holes in his chest, a burst fuel line in his foot, and a crackling wire in his head, he could barely keep ahead of some of the nastier shots being levied at him.  He could only continually give back ground and hope that Dr. Light would ignore Neji and his fruitless attempts to destroy the light orbs chasing Beast Boy.  In retrospect, sending the short-range specialist to handle the flying stuff hadn’t been the brightest idea.

                Still.  Give ground and move back.  If he could keep it up long enough, he might be able to get back to the bay and get reinforcements from Robin and the others.  And at least now that Dr. Light was back to using the old-fashioned solid light stuff, no more buildings were crumpling.

                “And here’s one last one!”  Again Cyborg fired his arm cannon, and again it had no effect.  He felt his energy levels drop and realized he couldn’t afford many more blasts like that.

                Dr. Light laughed, something he’d been doing a lot of recently.  “You know, I never realized before how FUN you kids can be!”  He shouted.  “So proud of your petty little powers, so confident in your supposed prowess… so completely ineffectual!”

                “Effectual enough to whoop your ass last time,” muttered Cyborg. 

                The simple statement had an amazing effect on the mad doctor.  “Silence!”  He roared.  “I was another man then… broken, blinded, barely half of what I am now!”  Swiftly he raised both fists.  “Now what I lost has been returned, and I am able to correct those former humiliations!”  His hands began to glow.

                Aw shit, thought Cyborg, I think this is going to hurt.

                And then a sperm whale fell from the sky and landed on top of Dr. Light.  Though confused as to it’s origin, Cyborg promptly decided that it was the most amazing and beautiful sperm whale he’d ever seen.  And green too!  Who cared if it smashed through the ceiling and two floors, it was still…  just beautiful.  Cyborg even said as much to Neji as he came running up.

                “Yes.  Yes the Sperm Whale is quite impressive.”  Neji nodded, face stone serious.  “However, I doubt it will remain that way for long, and it would be best if we…”

                The rest of Neji’s words were cut off as said sperm whale came flying back up, morphing into a monkey and then back into Beast Boy as it landed next to them.   The next second Dr. Light leaped up onto the roof, glaring at the group of them.  Cyborg was distressed to observe that although roughened, his armor appeared largely untouched.   “So the others have returned, I see.”  He nodded, panting slightly.  “No matter.  I shall destroy you all together then.”

                “I think not.”  Neji’s eyes narrowed.

                “Neji, don’t…!”  But it was already too late.  Neji leapt across the roof toward their assailant, straight into a solidified light lasso.  It tightened around his neck, reared up, and suspended him above the ground, swiftly constricting.  Neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy had time to think as they shot forward, the roof racing beneath their feet.  Dr. Light noticed them just a second too late and shot out a new set of lassos. 

Beast Boy he caught, Cyborg he didn’t.

                “Raargh!”  Two pounds of plasto-steel compound smashed into Light’s face, knocking him off his feet and into the air.  Both light lassos dissipated  from the shock, and their two prisoners landed on the roof as Light plummeted from the building.

                Beast Boy cocked his head.  “…what happened to his light shield thing?”

                Cyborg shrugged.  “The personal one must only work against energy weap....”

                “Curses!”  Dr. Light once again shot into view, clear on the other side of the building.  A portion of his armor had folded outward and now shot a stream of energy earthward, keeping the doctor aloft.   “You shall pay for that indignity!”

                “A jetpack?  When the heck did you get a jetpack?” gaped Cyborg.

                “Ignorant fool!  This is not a jetpack, it is a mega-light projecter that pushes me off the ground using waves of solidified…”

                That was when Neji’s kunai flew straight into said mega-light projector.  The backpack sputtered, fizzled, then exploded, sending Dr. Light tumbling to the roof.  Although he saved himself from a complete fall with his wrist projectors, he was clearly drained, and his armor was looking worse than ever.  He attempted to shake it off, hissing, “You shall not defeat me.”

                “Hate to break it to you, Doc, but it kinda looks like we just did.”  Beast Boy shrugged.  “I mean, okay, you still got your powers, but you’ve used up most of your little toys, and we’ve still got plenty of fight left.”

                “You misunderstand me.  I cannot win, but you shall not defeat me.”  With a wink, Dr. Light disappeared from the rooftop.  “Adieu, so-called Titans.”

                “What the…”

                “Manipulation of electromagnetic field,” muttered Cyborg.  “I can’t see him with my robot eye either.”

                Neji’s eyes pulsed with chakra.  “Byakugan is ineffective also.”  He confirmed.  “Curious… usually it can penetrate such simple genjutsus.”

                “What the…” Spluttering, Beast Boy nearly bounced with frustration.  “But… but…but we can’t just let him get away!  Not after all this!”

                Suddenly, something rushed past them with a feral snarl.  Cyborg had just time to recognize Kiba before he shouted behind him.  “Follow me!  This way!”

                “Good to hear you’re back on your feet, Robin.”  Aqualad’s grinning face shone from the main screen in the control room.  “After your communicators went down we thought that… well, we were about ready to send a search team when the League contacted us.”

                Robin offered a short nod.  “I appreciate the thought, but next time you’re thinking about that, be careful.  The guys we had here were WAY past our class.”

                “That’s what the League said too.  Well, okay, what they said was that we should stay out of the whole thing and let them handle it.”  Aqualad’s face hardened in irritation.  “But who’s going to listen to that?”

                With a small grin, Robin nodded his agreement.  “On that note… you said we weren’t the only Titans to go off the grid.  Who was the other one?”

                “Kid Flash,” responded the other.  “Well, technically he’s not really ON the grid, but… Jinx came in last week and said he was missing.”

                “What about his communicator?”

                “Nothing.  He’s not answering and we can’t locate it.”

                “The homing beacon isn’t working?”  Robin frowned.  “That’s odd.  And… disturbing.”

                “To say the least.  I’ve sent out a general order to all Titans on call to check in.  Maybe it’s just an overreaction, but I feel we should check to see if anyone else is missing.”

                “Good initiative.  What results?”

                There was a pause.  “They’re still coming in.  We have a lot of members, Robin.”

                “True.  Suppose we’ll have to wait a day or so to be sure.”  Robin frowned a moment in thought.  “Contact me tomorrow with whatever you have then, we’ll see what we can do to locate any missing members.”

                Clearly incredulous, Aqualad arched an eyebrow.  “You sure?  You guys just had a near scrape yourselves, you don’t want…”

                “We’ve picked up some new manpower.  It won’t be a problem.”  Robin assured him.  “Now what do you have on Kid Flash?”

                “Not much.  Jinx says he was working on a case of some kind… but considering the kid’s detective skills, that can’t be much.  He was in Denver last we knew, but again, given his speed…”

                “…he could be almost anywhere by now,” finished Robin.  “Problematic.   Well, keep looking into it… I’d start from there and see what there might be that he might be investigating.”

                “Sounds good.  I’ll be in touch.”  A brief nod, and Aqualad’s image disappeared.

                Robin leaned back in his chair and sighed.  New recruits to train, a base to repair, and a missing Titan to find.  They’d be having a busy next couple weeks even if crime DIDN’T pick up.

                Speaking of which, he thought, glancing at the clock, where are Cyborg and the others?

                “Holy cow, man!”  Cyborg panted.  “You can smell him from all the way over here?”

                ‘Here’ was a deserted road leading out of Jump City.  ‘Him’ was Dr. Light.  ‘You’ was Kiba, still leaping along at great strides, his nostrils wide and flaring.  He did not bother to turn or reply, but Neji did it for him.  “Yes, he can.  Stay on his tail.”

                Cyborg resisted the obvious pun and kept running.  These ninjas could move crazy fast, like faster than Robin on a good day.  Beast Boy, now in wolf form, could keep up well enough, but Cyborg had significant difficulty.  Already he could feel his energy ebbing. I really should have fully charged before going out on patrol.  He reflected grimly.

                Suddenly, with a fresh growl, Kiba gave an enormous leap, claws outstretched.  They raked across the air, electricity sparked from them, and the next second, a fully visible Dr. Light stood before them. 

With another roar, Kiba attacked him, but he had scarcely got in three blows before a burst of light blew him away into the nearest building.  Groaning, Kiba collapsed to the ground.  Close on his heels, Beast Boy galloped forward, but another light lasso sprouted from the doctor’s hands and tightened around his neck.  It lifted him off the ground and hung him in the air, heels kicking as he gasped for air.

“If I am to be defeated…” Light hissed, “…I will at least take one of you with me!”

Neither Cyborg nor Neji had time to think as they shot forward, the street racing beneath their feet.  Dr. Light saw them, but he had only one hand to attack with.  Cyborg he caught.  Neji he didn’t.

With unbelievable grace and fluidity, Neji shot under the man’s second attack and delivered a blow straight to his midsection.  Dr. Light stiffened, coughed, and fell over.

Standing, Neji gave a short bow to the fallen villain.  “A worthy battle,” was all he said, and then turned to Beast Boy.  “Are you well?”

Gar, gasping for air too hard to properly answer, managed a small nod.

“Good.”  Neji walked away, toward Kiba’s prone form, and began to administer first aid.  Cyborg growled.  Although he didn’t pretend to understand how, exactly, the ninja had paralyzed the man with one stroke, he still felt he should know enough to guard the prisoner.  Pushing himself to his feet, he joined Gar and gave him a little pat on the back before turning to Dr. Light.  “Time to go, Light,” said he brusquely, reaching over to handcuff the doctor.

Suddenly he froze.

“Cy?  What’s wrong?” asked Beast Boy, oblivious to the blood seeping from the villain’s mouth.

“He’s dead.”

                “You killed him.”

                The pale-eyed boy seemed a trifle puzzled by the question.  “Yes…?”

                Robin groaned and pressed his hands to his head.  “We don’t… you weren’t supposed to do that.”

                “Oh.  He was required for interrogation, then?  I apologize, but I was not informed of that prior to this operation.  I assumed termination was the objective.”

                “Termination is NEVER an objective.  Not with us,” glared Robin.  “We don’t kill.”

                Once again Neji seemed puzzled.  “But… the nature of the fight necessitated lethal action.  Cyborg…” he gestured to the glowering teen in the corner, “…knocked him off a ten-story building, I assumed the intent was to kill him with the fall.”

                “Well yeah, but…”  Cyborg spluttered.  “Dude, we knock people off buildings all the time!  They just never actually fall, they always catch themselves!”

                “So it was a distractionary measure?”  Neji blinked.  “But I thought you didn’t know he had that jetpack.  And Beast Boy destroyed it shortly after, he could have died from either of those falls.”

                “Dude, the point is that a fall NEVER actually kills anyone.”

                “Yes they do.  I’ve killed several people that way.”

                “The point is,” Robin interrupted, massaging his brow, “that neither Beast Boy nor Cyborg actually meant to kill Dr. Light.  You did.”

                “Yes.”  Neji nodded, the puzzled look back on his face.  “I was under the impression that he was an enemy of the village and must be apprehended or eliminated.  Given the proximity of the threat to my teammate, lethal force was the only option.”

                “How’d you do that, by the way?  I thought you targeted internal organs through their chakra coils?”

                Neji turned to the Sakura, who stood beside Naruto in the other side of the room.  Both of them looked more confused than disturbed.  “It is true that generally I use the chakra coils to determine the positioning of target organs.  However, I can, if necessary, rely on simple anatomical knowledge.  Organs are, after all, generally consistent in their placement.”

                “That’s pretty cool.”  Naruto grinned.

                Robin closed his eyes, trying to ward off the feeling of impending doom that enveloped him.  “Look.”  He said carefully.  “In our line of work, you’re not supposed to kill, understand?  Not by accident, definitely not by intent.  Regardless of the circumstances, you do NOT use lethal force.”

                “Why?”  All three ninjas looked confused.

                “You… you just don’t!”

                “We’re not the ones to make that call,” supplemented Robin, adding a nod to Cyborg’s statement.  “We capture, but we leave it up to the populace to try and sentence the criminals.  Not us.”

                Neji frowned.  “You try and sentence people who attack whole cities?”

                “Seems kinda backward.”  Sakura nodded.  “Attacking cities… that’s not just crime, that’s war.  In war, you can’t hold back against an enemy or you’ll die.  Unless, of course, you’re incredibly more talented than they are, but that doesn’t seem to have been an issue here.”

                Apparently more sympathetic, Naruto hesitantly offered, “I suppose… putting it before a trial WOULD keep people from holding grudges… from perpetuating the cycle.  But the risk—it doesn’t seem worth it, really.  I mean, if you’re pretty sure the civilians are going to execute him ANYWAY.”

                “Actually…”  Robin exchanged a glance with Cyborg, “…generally our society tries not to execute criminals either.”

                You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

                “WHAT?”  Sakura finally managed to screech.  “You mean you have tons of these… dangerous, homicidal maniacs out there and you don’t DO anything about them?”

                “Of course we do!  We capture them and lock them up!”  Robin insisted.  “We don’t kill people, but we…”

                “You lock them up and let them spend the rest of their life in prison, then?” frowned Neji.  “That does not seem a very attractive alternative.”

                Again sympathetic, Naruto shrugged.  “It… kinda makes sense.  I mean, it lets them live their life, but it keeps them from harming others.  I mean, once you lock them up, they’re pretty much locked up for good, right?”  He glanced expectantly from Cyborg to Robin.  “Right?  Right?””

                Neither met his gaze.

                “Oh my word.”  Sakura muttered.  “You people are just…”  Shaking her head, she finally let out a huge sigh.  “Whatever. We’re in your place, we follow your rules.   I’ll let the others know, we’ll do our best not to kill anyone from now on.”  As they began to file out, she paused at the doorway.  “Is this… going to cause any problems, by the way?  Will Neji have to do parole or anything?”

                Robin and Cyborg again exchanged glances.  “I don’t think so.”  Robin admitted.  “According to reports, there were a number of people who died in those buildings he destroyed.  The League might get a little angry—this is a big thing with them—but the city will be able to accept his death as an accident.”

                “Good.”  Sakura passed out the door, and Cyborg looked to Robin one last time.

                “Keep an eye on them for the moment,” sighed Robin.  “Tomorrow we’ll hold a full briefing and make sure everyone understands the hero rules.  I don’t think this should actually be a problem—there wasn’t any malice involved—but that’s the kind of misunderstanding I only want to happen once.”

                “You’re just gonna let white-eyes walk, then?”

                “Not much else I can do, right now.  There’s not really a legal case, the city won’t complain at all, and considering the situation, the action is excusable.  He did save Beast Boy’s life, I can’t overlook that.  And from a tactical standpoint, they outnumber us, so with relations like they are, the last thing we want is more strain.”  He sighed again.  “The most I can do is tell the League and let them deal with it.”  Once more he glanced up at Cyborg.  “You just do your job with security and I’ll do mine with public relations, okay?”

                “Yes sir.”

                “A good game, Mr. Nara.”

                “For you, maybe.”  Shikamaru grunted.  Losing to his dad wasn’t so bad, but for some reason losing to this guy really irked him.

                “Oh, come now, Mr. Nara.  It took me nearly twenty more moves to defeat you this time.  And whether you believe it or not, I truly enjoyed the game.”  The bald man smirked.  “You are a most… fascinating opponent.  We must do this again sometime.”

                For a brief moment Shikamaru considered rejecting the proposal.  After all, he only seemed to lose, and if he was right about the man’s ulterior motives, playing further games could be dangerous…

                Boredom won out.  “Sure.  Tomorrow?”

                “Tomorrow it is, then.”  One last smile, and the wall faded back to opaque white.

                In the dark of the control room, a screen flickered into life.  “This had better be important.”  A familiar figure snapped.

                “Test driving the new exo-suit, I see.”  Amusement glimmered across Robin’s face.  “Seems a bit dangerous, Bruce.”

                “What’re you calling for?  Decided to take up my offer?”

                “What, that?  No,”  snorted Robin.  “It’s not like you actually wanted me to take it anyway.”

                No one except Robin could have detected the hint of pride on Batman’s face.  “So you figured it out, then.”

                “I can’t always tell when you’re manipulating me, Bruce, but that attempt was rather obvious.  Giving me a light sketch of the visitors before outlining our dilemma and deliberately antagonizing me…”  Shaking his head, Robin allowed himself a small smile.  “You must’ve been in a hurry.”

                “I was.  The scheme would only have been believable while the girl was present to hear our argument.”  Batman’s face had resumed its immobility.  “So.  To return to my original question, what are you calling for?  Hoping to impress me with your detective skills?”

                A snort came from the teen.  “As if.  No, I was hoping to deal with your insecurity issues.”

                “I wasn’t aware I had any.”

                “That’s the issue.  You should.  There’s a small handicap to your plan, Bruce.”  Giving his best imitation of a Bat-glare, Robin leaned back in his seat.  “You sent us soldiers.  To do heroes’ work.  You DO realize the contradiction there, don’t you?”

                “I did, but I thought you could handle it.  I take it I was wrong.”

                “Oh, I can handle it, all right, but one of you leaguers should’ve explained things to them better.  I guess I’ll have to clean up your mess, though.  I’ll talk to them tomorrow.”

                “How many did they kill?”

                “Just one.  Fortunately he’d gone homicidal and it was an in-battle situation, so legal problems should be at a minimum.”  Watching Batman closely, Robin added, “Funny thing though… he wasn’t the sort to go homicidal.  Dr. Light, one of our rogue’s gallery.  Generally harmless, but he did a number on the city this time.  Said something about ‘getting his mind back,’ or so Cyborg tells me.”

                “Hm.”  Batman’s brow knitted in concentration.  “That’s interesting.”

                “You’re telling me.  So is the fact that apparently the League has an auto-alert on his prison status.  Dr. Light seems a bit… below their attention.”

                “Seemed, Robin.  Past tense.  Dr. Light is dead.”

                “Why’d the League keep such a close eye on him, Bruce?  I’ve got a half-destroyed city here, I need to know where it came from.”

                Batman remained silent for a moment.  “One of the League’s old messes.”  He finally admitted.  “We fought him once, back in the day.  One of our easier battles, but still much worse than anything you kids have ever experienced.”

                “So.”  Robin nodded.  “Dr. Light was really something back in the day, eh?”

                A snort came from the speaker.  “How did you think the moron you kids fought ever managed to develop light manipulation technology?  He used to be a brilliant quantum physics scientist at Lexcorp, one of the most intelligent men they had there.  One day, he just trashed the lab, killed his assistants, and went on a crime spree.  Superman could catch him but not hold him.  He called in the League and we managed to knock him out while we figured out what to do with him.”

                “So what happened?”

                “J’onn figured out he was under Luthor’s control… some kind of neural implant.  He went inside Light’s head and tried to remove it… didn’t work out.”

                Robin frowned.  “You’re telling me the League turned Dr. Light into a vegetable?”

                “J’onn didn’t know the full extent of his powers at the time, or the effects they might have on a human mind.  Dr. Light used to be a brilliant man—we hoped we could return him to that by removing Luthor’s influence.  And, with his powers, we weren’t even sure if we could keep him imprisoned anywhere for long.”  Batman’s image shrugged.  “We made a mistake.  A bad one, that none of us have ever forgotten.  There’s a reason why J’onn so rarely uses his mental powers, you realize.”

                “I suppose so.”  Robin’s face was blank, calculating.  “So how’d Dr. Light suddenly regain all that lost ability?”

                “I don’t know.  Theoretically, it shouldn’t be even possible.  The League kept an eye on him just in case, but we felt sure he’d never be himself again.  It’s definitely disturbing to hear he somehow regained it.”

                “Before dying.”

                “Yes, before dying.  Well, those are your answers, Robin.  Now is there anything else, or can I get back to work?”

                “Just one thing more, Bruce.”  Robin leaned forward in his chair and locked gazes with his mentor.  “I made this call for a lot of reasons, but the main one was to let you know I’m wise to your game and that I won’t play it with you.  You’re right, these guys need to be watched and trained, but I’m going to be the one responsible for that.  We’re going along with the plan, but we won’t be used.  No League interference.  At all.  Security feeds and any information I learn from them will stay here.  Training, assimilation, and counseling are all up to me and my team, not you.  I’m making this call once, and only once, to let you know I won’t be doing it again.”

                Batman’s face showed no change at all.  “In that case, I wish you the best of luck.  You’re going to need it.  The image flickered and died away.  “Batman out.”

Chapter Text

                “THIS WORLD HAS RAMEN!”

                A few days had passed since the attack by Dr. Light, and things had begun to settle into a kind of stability.  To Robin’s relief, most of the ninjas had followed the ‘no-killing’ rule rather well, and had handled the subsequent situations quickly and professionally.  So professionally, in fact, that the Titans had more time to themselves than ever before.  Though three ninjas and one Titan were always on call, the remaining eleven teenagers were free to spend time as they wished.  Even Robin, their leader, could manage to sit here in a restaurant with some of them, listening to Naruto expound on the glories of steamed noodles.

                “Oh, and the VARIETIES!  Okay, so it’s not as good as Ichiraku’s, but man, they must have like sixty different kinds here!  I could try a new kind of ramen every meal for a week and not finish them all!”  Naruto practically cried as he stuffed another forkful in his mouth.  “I knew this world couldn’t be all bad.”  He murmured reverently.

                Cyborg, seated just next to Naruto, let out a snort.  “Thanks man.  Glad to hear the place isn’t a total letdown.”

                “You’re welcome.”  Naruto nodded, utterly lost in ramen.  “Ohmanohmanohman.  It even has something called ‘chocolate ramen!’  Oh, I GOTTA try that.”

                Part of the reason Robin had agreed to go on this trip was to learn more about the blonde.  Clearly, the rest of the ninjas respected him, but it was difficult to see why.  He definitely had the power to be a leader—his battle with Superman showed that, at least—but planning?  Charisma?  Decisive action?  The blond didn’t seem to have them.  Leaving his followers largely to their own designs, he tended to take on all the burdens himself. 

                Taking on burdens was an excellent attribute for a leader, but so was knowing how to delegate said burdens.  From what Robin could see, Naruto seemed to inspire more than truly lead.  But then Robin hadn’t really seen much of him at all, outside of what daily observation and interaction (supplemented by footage of every moment the teen spent inside the tower) had provided.  Hence, this quick trip to the restaurant.  He needed to directly interact with the blonde, try to figure out what made him tick.

                So far, all he’d learned was that the boy had a passion for ramen.

                “Is he always like this?” he questioned the other occupant of the table.

                In response, Chouji grinned.  “Pretty much.  He eats ramen all the time back in Konoha.  Hey, what’s this ‘steak’ stuff that the menu recommends?”

                “Dude, you’ve never had steak?”  Cyborg offered the chubby boy a grin of his own.  “We have GOT to take you to a barbeque sometime.”

                “Steaks are like barbeque?  THAT stuff I know about.”  Chouji folded up his menu.  “I’ll take two.”

                “You know about barbeque, but not steak.”  Robin frowned.

                “Yeah, why?”

                Shaking his head, Robin decided to let it go.  These inconsistencies usually weren’t worth the trouble.  As he glanced up, he caught Cyborg looking at him.  “What?”  he asked, annoyed.

                Cyborg ducked his head immediately.  “Nuthin… Nuthin, boss.  It’s just… kinda weird to see you without a mask.”

                Shrugging, Robin answered, “It’s a little odd seeing you without the cybernetic implants.”

                “It is.”  Cyborg agreed, looking down at his solidly human body.  “Sorta… freaky, really.”  A spasm of pain crossed his face.  “What’d you guys call this… thingie you can do again?”

                “Henge,” answered Naruto, deep into his third bowl of Ramen.  “It’s like a transformation jutsu.  We use it for disguises and such.  Actually, I didn’t know if it would work on you guys, but looks like it went okay.”

                Robin nodded, tracing his fingers over his new, unfamiliar face.  It wasn’t Dick Grayson’s face, but it shared a frightening amount of similarities.  And Cyborg, he knew, was doing his best not to spaz out over the sensation, however artificial, of being human again.  Robin wasn’t quite sure the added precaution was worth it—after all, the Titans went to lunch all the time in full costume—but it was a useful technique to at least be aware of, and it WAS nice to not be receiving so many stares from bystanders.

                “Pity the others didn’t come.”  Chouji’s musing broke in on his thoughts.  “Woulda been kinda fun to have a team meal.”

                Naruto let out a little snort of laughter.  “C’mon, Chouji.  Lee spends every minute in the training room, and Neji’s gotta do matches with him SOMETIMES.  Sakura’s barely budged from that computer room since we got here—say, how’s that going with her?”

                Cyborg shrugged.  “It’s going okay.  She picks up stuff pretty fast, I’ll say that for her.  I mean, she ain’t gonna be writing Xbox games any day, but she’s doing pretty well with what we’ve got.”

                “She always was the smart one,” laughed Naruto.  “Anyway, where was I?”

                “Team meals.”  Robin supplied.  Privately he pondered the wisdom of pressing Naruto on the subject of Sakura.  The two had been nearly constantly avoiding each other since the day of arrival.

                “Right, yeah.  Anyway, so Sakura’s doing her whole studying thing, Kiba’s still trying to work out some jutsus that DON’T involve Akamaru; Shino, Hinata, and Sai are out on patrol with Starfire; and Ino… well, she doesn’t eat much anyway.”

                “Doesn’t do much of anything, recently,” commented Robin, jumping on the chance.   “Does she usually stay off by herself like that?”

                A troubled expression across his face, Chouji shook his head.  “No.  No she doesn’t.  It’s kinda bothering me too.”

                “Hm.”  Robin wondered momentarily if he should contact the League but discarded the idea.  There was nothing inherently dangerous or suspicious about a young teenage girl wanting a private room to herself, far away from the others.  Nor was there really anything wrong with her staying in that room 24/7 with the lights off.  It was a trifle disturbing, but having Raven in the same tower put it more into perspective.  Especially since Raven had been acting antisocial herself recently—more than normal, anyway.

                A distant explosion made Robin glance up sharply and half-start from his seat.  Cyborg stopped him with a motion.  “Relax boss.  We’re on break.”

                “We could still check it out,” commented Chouji.  “They might need assistance.”

                “No, they’ll be fine.”  Robin sat back down with a sigh.  “If they need help they’ll call for it.”

                Chouji shrugged.  “If you say so.”

                “Huh.”  Naruto was glancing about the diner now, a ramen noodle dangling from his mouth.  “You know, this place would be great for… hm.”

                “How do you guys deal with crooks back home?”  asked Cyborg, ignoring Naruto’s musings.  “I mean, if everyone’s super-powered, how do you handle so many meta-crooks?”

                “They’re not all… ah… like us.  Civilians can’t use chakra.”

                Robin frowned.  “Seems like that would make it worse.  How do the civilians deal with ultra-powered soldiers walking around their store or restaurant?  Or, for that matter, having stealth operatives shop?”

                “We have enforcement squads.”  Naruto finally re-entered the conversation.  “Military police and the ANBU keep an eye on things in the village, especially ninja.  Using jutsus in shops and such is forbidden.”

                “And if someone breaks the rules?”

                “Then the ANBU nabs them.  Nobody messes with the ANBU,” shrugged Naruto.

                “What if they do?”  Robin found this interesting.  The ‘ANBU’ sounded roughly equivalent to the superhero patrols.  So what about supervillains?

                Considering the question, Naruto frowned.  “Depends.  Generally, off-duty ninjas are discouraged from interfering in ANBU or police business.  But if a fight gets bad enough, sometimes other ninjas will jump in to help.  And if it’s a major threat…”  Naruto glanced to Chouji, “…we have a system set up to alert all ninja around the village, off-duty, retired, or otherwise, to come and help.”

                “I see.”  A whole CITY of superheroes, organized into a military structure, where any citizen off the street—well, not any, but most—could just leap up and help in the defense of the city… a fascinating vision.  Dangerous, perhaps, but fascinating.  Equivalent to a Grecian city-state, almost.  “Your world sounds very interesting.”

                “My world is AWESOME, man.”

                Cyborg rolled his eyes.  “Let me guess.  Because it has ramen?”

                “Oh, does it ever!  It has the most incredible ramen in the history of ramen!  There’s this one place, Ichiraku’s…”  Naruto got all misty on the edges of his eyes.  “I… I better not talk about it.  Dude, if I could, I’d run over there and grab a bowl so you could just see how incredible it is.  I really wish that portal they’re building was done already.”

                “So what’s the main problem with the portal?”  Superman frowned at the enormous metal circle before him.

                “The main problem is that I don’t know how to build it!” snapped Terrific, clearly irritated.  “Oh, I got the schematics alright…” he waved toward the other metal circle in the room.  “I’ve studied Batman’s interdimensional window until I know it backwards.  But that’s a portal using technology VERY similar to ours to get to a parallel universe VERY close to ours.”  He paused.  “By the way, why did Batman keep the portal to the Lords Universe?”

                Shrugging, Superman responded: “He’s Batman.  It was probably for some back-up plan.”

                “I suppose so.  Anyway, the point is that this sort of thing is completely different.  We’re trying to build a portal to a universe completely separate from our own.  Even with the dimensional transpondance frequency we have from the satellites, it’s not just a simple matter of plugging them in and starting the portal up.  For all we know, we might not even be using the right technology!  We might need to employ this… chakra energy of theirs in some kind of biomechanical creation just to get around the right area!  And then there’s the need to make sure we don’t put THEM in an alternate universe of their OWN world…”

                “Complicated then.”

                “Yes.  Very.”

                Superman turned to the other occupant of the room.  “Anything to offer, Dr. Fate?”

                The golden helmet of the powerful magus shook in reply.  “I fear not.  I am… unfamiliar this source of energy they are using, this… chakra.  I have no understanding of the energy imbibing your prisoner downstairs.  Or rather, I have a slight understanding of it, but certainly not enough to manipulate it.   I could, perhaps, risk it, but in this case, I cannot quite see the point.”

                “The point?”  Superman arched an eyebrow at Dr. Fate.  “We promised we do whatever we could to get these kids back to where they came from.”

                “True.  But for the moment at least, the children are quite safe where they are.  Indeed I might almost say they are exactly where they need to be.”  Shrugging, Dr. Fate continued, “In either case, I cannot help you in this matter.”

                “Guess you’re on your own then, Terrific.”  Superman shot the scientist a glance, trying to hide his disappointment.

                Fortunately, Mr. Terrific did not seem let down at all.  “Didn’t really figure this was the sort of thing Fate could help us with anyway.  I can do it, it’s just… difficult.  Especially without any kind of understanding of what this ‘chakra’ is, or the ‘Sharingan’ that used it.”  Sighing, he glanced up at the metal ring again.  “What would really be helpful is some kind of example to work from, but that’s not likely to happen.”

                “No.”  Superman agreed.  “Anyway, keep on it, and let us know if you need anything.”

                “Was there something else you wanted my help with?” asked Dr. Fate.

                “Just your advice on something odd.  Blue Devil said one of the girls in the group felt… strange, almost like his trident.  Do you know what would cause something like that?”

                Dr. Fate shook his head once again.  “Blue Devil’s magic is of a kind very different than my own, and I do not understand his trident at all.  I fear I am spectacularly useless to your League on this occasion.  However, I can perhaps summon a spirit better able to help you.” 

Looking up, the mage sighed.  Puzzlement had written itself all across Superman’s face.  “Blue Devil is of the supernatural realm.”  Dr. Fate explained.  “Specifically, connected to that of the afterlife.  While I do have dealings in that sphere, it is a dangerous one to investigate.  It would be better to ask an inhabitant of the realm—to summon a ghost, in other words.”  A touch of humor entered his voice.  “You may, however, want to choose your ghost carefully.  Most dead spirits prefer to stay dead, and may be unwilling to give you the information you need.”

“Hm.”  Superman considered, then suddenly brightened.  “You know, there was this one ghost who helped us before—Boston Brand, I think Bats said his name was.”

“Ah.  I know him, he is one of the servants of Rama Kushna.”  Dr. Fate nodded.  “He still walks the earth, attempting to atone for his last crime.  He would be willing to help you.  Very well.  I shall contact for you the one called Deadman.”

                “Hey,” waved Beast Boy as he waltzed into the room.  “Where is everyone?  This place is dead.”

                Kiba barely looked up from the scroll he was studying.  “Chouji took some of them out to lunch, I think.  Lee and Neji are still here, they’re sparring downstairs.  Sakura too, she’s up in the control room.  And I’m not sure, but I’d guess that Ino and your friend Raven are still in their rooms upstairs.”

                “Well yeah, if you count them.”  Beast Boy rolled his eyes, walking over to the boy.  “Dunno what’s come over Raven lately, she’s acting past her normal level of weird lately.”

                “It’s Naruto.  Neji told me that Raven doesn’t like him.”

                “Oh?  I guess he is the sort that would get on her nerves.  Still, she’ll get over it eventually.”  Squatting, he peered at the Japanese characters on the scroll.  “What’re you up to?”

                “Studying jutsus,” answered Kiba.  “Don’t ask me WHY Sakura carries spare earth jutsu scrolls with her on missions, but she does, and I’m trying to see if I can use any of them.”

                “Why?”

                “Because without Akamaru, half my jutsu’s don’t work, that’s why.  I need new ones if I’m going to be anything but a hindrance on missions.”

                “Oh.  Right.”  Wrinkling his nose in thought, Beast Boy asked hesitantly, “Akamaru… that’s like… your big wolf-dog… back in Konoha.  Right?” 

                “He’s my partner.  I do everything with him.  Walk, work, ride, fight… everything.”  Kiba’s mouth hardened in a firm line.  “Inuzuka children are practically raised alongside their dogs, they feed and train them themselves.  I understand him better than I do most humans.”

                “Uh-huh.  And he didn’t make the jump with the rest of you guys?”

                “Apparently not.  Either that, or he’s still out there in the world.  Maybe that one bald guy has him.  I don’t know.  The only thing for sure is that without him, I’m nothing.  I’ve never been without him for long before.”  Fisting a handful  of scroll, Kiba continued, “So until we can find him, I study jutsus.  Except Sakura only keeps low-chakra techniques that require insane amounts of control which I don’t HAVE!”

                “Hm.”  Beast Boy studied the scroll as it flew across the room.  “Bummer.”

                “You’re telling me.”  Kiba leaned back with a sigh.  “What’re you doing here, anyway?”

                A shrug.  “I was bored.  Tried to go up to talk to Raven, but she’s not feeling very talkative lately.”

                “Surprise.”

                “It is, actually.  I mean, okay, she gets annoyed when I run off at the mouth all the time, but usually she at least hears me out or makes a snarky comment or something.  Doesn’t usually seal the door with dark magic like that.”

                “What, when you started talking?”

                “No, it was like that when I got there.  Too bad really, I was even shifted in dog form.  She loves me in dog form!”

                Kiba eyed the hyperactive youngster dubiously.  “She does?”

                “Oh yeah!”  A second later there was a green beagle with enormous eyes looking up at him.  “See?  Who couldn’t love a face like this?”

                “It looks stupid.”  Kiba frowned. 

                “Does not!”  The beagle took on an irritated expression.  “Anyway, it’s not like that’s the only form I can use on her.  I can do every single dog form in the world!”

                “Every?”

                “Every single one!  Here, tell me what Akamaru looks like.  Betcha I can copy him!”

                Kiba snorted.  “Trust me.  They don’t got dogs like him here.”

                “So?  C’mon, give me a try with this!”

                “Okay.”  Kiba shifted wearily around to look at the beagle.  “Picture maybe… I dunno, one of your wolves, roughly the size of a horse…”

                “You seem to be coming along quite well, Miss Karin.”

                Karin started away from the railing and nearly dropped her clipboard.  “L-l-l-luthor-san!”  She gasped.    “I did not know you were…”

                “That’s the point of a surprise inspection, Miss Karin.  You’re NOT supposed to know,” reminded Luthor as he stepped to the railing beside her.  Below them, hundreds of bubbling tubes housed fragile pink blobs of humanity, wires and tubes sprouting from every aperture.  “How are the clones coming along?  I can see the progress myself, but tell me if there’s anything I’m NOT seeing.”

                Swallowing, Karin summoned up her nerve.  “Thirty-six test embryos are currently developing under the altered conditions we determined from the third test group.  So far, twelve of them show promising developments, but the rest are scheduled to be drained tomorrow, when we will begin autopsies.  The four still surviving prototypes from test group three are also undergoing examination, one has begun degeneration…”

                “Miss Karin, I SAID I can see the progress for myself.”  Luthor gave her a terse look.  “I receive daily reports as to the results of your experimentation.  What I want you to tell me is what you yourself have observed.”

                “Yes… forgive me. Well, from what I myself have observed, I doubt very much that any of the embryos will develop Curse Seal blood.  I can’t detect any latent chakra signatures in them at this stage, something they really should have formed by now.  As I told you earlier, I’m not entirely sure cloning will work, as the chakra technique…”

                “Your opinion does not concern me.  Continue the cloning experiments.”  Luthor gave her a cold, imperious glance.

                Karin nearly choked.  “Y-yes sir.  It may be possible to STIMULATE chakra through direct injection of chakra energy—provided by one of the ninjas, perhaps.”

                “Better.  Any suggestions as to which ninja would be most useful?”

                “Well…”   Karin flipped through her clipboard.  “The chief difficulty is that the ninja has to be a willing participant in the exchange.  “It’s not quite so simply a matter of extracting chakra and pumping it back in.  Procedures for that exist, but I don’t think we have the means here.  The ninja must be an expert in chakra control to…”

                “Miss Karin.  I asked you for a suggestion, not an explanation.”

                “Y-yes sir.  The best candidate would ah… probably be myself.”

                Cocking an eyebrow, Luthor looked at the young woman.  “And why is that?”

                “I am a medical ninja by profession, Luthor-san.  I heal myself and others through the direct application of chakra to their system, usually through the oral cavity.  Hence, I am the one most qualified to conduct this procedure.  Also,” a terrified glimmer of a smile flickered across her face, “I am the only one likely to consent to such a procedure.  The Nara is too intelligent and might try something, and the other… though she perhaps possesses the training and control, she would never agree to it.”

                “I see.”  Luthor glanced down again, studying a tube occupant.  “What does this procedure involve?”

                Karin hesitated.  “Um… the recipient of the chakra… needs to… bite me.”

                A pause.  Luthor turned slowly from the glowing tanks and studied her.

                “W-well…” Karin hastened to explain, her words practically tumbling over each other.  “My skin has an inordinate amount of chakra you see—in the early days I specifically infused it to enhance my appearance—and thus I have a great deal of surplus chakra stored within my epidermal cells, chakra that can only be released by breaking the epidermal layer.  Using the outlet generally used for ingesting chakra makes it easier…”

                “That’s quite enough.”  Rolling his eyes, Luthor dismissed the explanation with a wave of his hand.  “I don’t even WANT to know.”  He turned back to the tanks.  “So we get the embryos to bite you.  I think the group three survivors are the only ones with teeth, so you’d best do it tomorrow.”

                “Y-yes sir.”

                “And the hybrids?  How are those coming?”

                “Better, sir.  Much better.  The injection of Juugo’s blood into human test subjects has yielded a number of promising results, although there ARE the standard casualties to insanity and death.  We’re working to minimize that right now.  As I told you, my former master himself never perfected the use of the curse seal, but then…”  Karin cast a semi-admiring glance around her workspace.  “…he didn’t have equipment like this.”

                “Indeed.  I must congratulate you, Miss Karin, on picking up on all this new technology so quickly.  Your skill in genetics is really quite impressive.  But then…” he cast a look down at her and smirked, “…you have plenty of motivation, do you not?”

                Karin’s hand itched to touch the device attached to her neck, but she kept them firmly gripped on her clipboard.  “Y-yes, Luthor-san.”  She answered quietly. “Thank you for letting the surgeons use anesthetic during the procedure, sir.”

                “Why wouldn’t I?”  The man lifted an amused eyebrow.  “Anesthetic is essential in such an operation, it keeps blood pressure down and lessens the possibility of trauma to the spinal cord.”

                “M-my old master… wouldn’t have bothered with it…”

                The bald man gave a little snort.  “Your old master sounds like a very twisted man.  Or a very stupid one.  Probably both.  Operating without anesthetic serves no purpose except the arousal of pain, which makes the operation much more risky and much more difficult.  Science is science, using science to indulge your taste for cruelty is just senseless.  It’s no wonder he didn’t have much luck with his clones.”

“As… you say, sir.”

                “We do not engage in senseless cruelty here.  Cruelty, yes, but purposeful cruelty.”  Luthor smiled thinly at the tanks lining the walls.  “Science is not about gratification of the sensations or of the ego.  Science is about results.  About applications.  About POWER.  Getting distracted toward one or the other results in unprofitable science.  The purpose of the explosive is not to terrify you or show you my power.  It is merely there to kill you if you deviate from your purpose.”

                “Y-yes sir.” 

Turning from the railing, he gave Karin a small nod.  “Miss Karin, I shall be back to observe your progress tomorrow.”  With a light pat on her neck and a somewhat predatory smile, he left the room.

                “Ah!  This world has not lessened your skill, my eternal rival!”

                “Please stop calling me that.”

                Robin smirked at the voices emitting from the training room.  Although Lee and Neji had been at it since this morning, he couldn’t say he was surprised to find them still going on his return from the restaurant.  Lee had all of Flash’s enthusiasm and Neji all of Batman’s stubbornness.  What the ‘eternal rivalry’ bit meant he still didn’t quite understand—certainly the Hyuuga did not seem to consider it valid—but he had seen enough for him to expect that this fight would probably last for the better part of the afternoon.

                Robin had expected Lee and Neji to still be at work, and that was why he had come down here.  Of late, he’d found the two martial-arts (taijutsu, they called it) specialists to be rather interesting.  He’d watched a great many of their fights and felt he was on the verge of… something.

                Pausing for a moment outside the door, Robin prepared himself, unsure what the room was set as today.  The ninjas had quickly become fascinated with the training room, especially its ‘solid holograms’ technology they had adopted from the Justice League.  From their constant talk of ‘genjutsu,’ Robin gathered that they had some familiarity with the concept, but not the execution.  Personally, Robin couldn’t see the point of an illusion that could be broken through physical pain, but he could hardly expect their methods to work the same as his.  And he supposed driving someone insane through illusions had a sort of twisted logic to it.  In either case, they recognized the potential of using a ‘genjutsu’ to train in and constantly tried out new simulations on it.  Lee, unsurprisingly, had gone through all.

So, when he opened the door to find only the plain blank room that the training area was, he felt a trifle disappointed.  But that was swiftly made up by the action of the two combatants on the floor.

Lee shot around his opponent at a remarkable speed, weaving in and out of the deadly hands and their blue glow.  Something else Robin didn’t understand—apparently Neji could target internal organs.  Supposedly he never actually did so during their training sessions, but Lee certainly behaved as if he did.   Not one of Neji’s thrusts or kicks ever came close to touching the green-clad chunin (THAT term Robin knew, though it seemed an odd one).  The feat was all the more remarkable because Lee was operating under a handicap.  Even at this distance, Robin could see the bulge of the weights around his ankles.

Sure, the weights on his leg couldn’t be very heavy at that size, but still—the feat was rather remarkable.

He continued to watch the two at work.  Neji’s power made his strikes formidable, but they were rigid, predictable.  They all followed the same rules, they all struck in the same way.  His strange eyes meant that you couldn’t take advantage of the usual openings, but the moves themselves were predictable.

Apparently Lee knew this too, as he could clearly anticipate nearly every one of Neji’s blows and avoid them.  But he too, operated in a very straightforward, linear attack pattern.  Crazy fast, yes, but predictable.  If the other opponent had quick enough eyes and reflexes…

Robin made his decision.  “Hey.”  He called to the two.  “Let me have a try.”

                Please, give me another chance Bruce.  Please give me a chance you pompous, brooding man, or so help me I will…  Just one more try.  Please let me have just one more try before you hole up in that cave and molder away your life in…

                “Princess.”  The monotone greeted her as she materialized in the cave.  Batman did not even look up from the computer.  “Glad you could make it on such short notice.”

                “Not like there’s much else going on at the Watchtower.”  Diana shrugged as she ambled up to his side.  “At least, not much that I can actually help with.  Still… this is important, isn’t it?  Not just you wanting to berate me about my actions in Gotham?”

                Batman’s gaze did not flicker from the computer.  “A little of both,” said he, tapping a few keys on the computer.  Instantly images lit up the screen, showing a riot of some kind in downtown Gotham.  A crowd of armed gunmen clad in tan jumpsuits surrounded a pile of cars, upon which a curiously feline figure was perched.  She seemed to be shouting something.

                Peering at the images, Wonder Woman frowned.  “Oh, I recognize her.  Cheetah, right?”

“Correct,” nodded Batman.  “Cheetah, the result of unauthorized lab tests involving feline stem cells.  Former associate of Luthor’s, consistent annoyance to the League.  Despite abilities, generally imprisoned for nothing worse than theft, assault and battery, and the occasional act of terror.”

“Hm.   Haven’t seen her since Grodd’s Legion broke up.”

“She’s been completely off the radar until now.  Very few crimes have been actually traced to her, and until she showed up in Gotham last night, her whereabouts were unknown.  Judging from her recent appearance, however, she has been busy.”  Batman tapped on a few more keys and other images sprung to life.  “She’s picked up some new… enhancements, and apparently grabbed some followers.”

“Some men will follow any pretty face.”  Diana snorted.

Although his face twitched in an odd manner, Batman replied only, “Yes.”

                “Well very interesting Bruce, but what’re you showing me all this for?  Why not just call the League in on her?  Or handle it yourself?”

                “Because you should make up for your mistakes, that’s why.”

                “Me?”  If she hadn’t been so shocked, Diana would have punched the man.  “What makes you say this is my fault?”

                Finally, Batman swiveled around in his chair to glare directly at her.  “You exposed yourself.”

                Diana blinked.  “What?”

                “You flew.  In public.”  The bat-glare deepened.  “I let you into Gotham ONLY because you promised to follow my rules.  Making a spectacle of yourself is decidedly against those rules.”

                “You’re saying this is my fault because a bunch of people saw me?”  This time Diana nearly DID punch him.  “Bruce, Clark flies around Metropolis all the time!”

                “Exactly.”

                “What?”

                With a sigh, Batman laced his fingers together and gazed at them.  “It may perhaps be hard for you to understand, Diana, but here it is.  Criminals respond to challenges.  A master thief robs a bank partly because he wants the money, but partly also because it is difficult.  The greater the challenge, the more criminals will strive to overcome it.”

                “Heroes, like us, are simply one more challenge.”  Batman gestured at the screen again.  “Yes, Superman flies around Metropolis all the time.  How many ultra-powered criminals have appeared there since he began crime-fighting?  You seriously think it is mere coincidence that attracts them to Metropolis and not to simply, say, Kalamazoo?  Crooks like Parasite and Luminus could go to rob anyplace, but they choose to remain in Metropolis because they want to be the one to defeat Superman.  How many super-villains has Luthor created for that express purpose?  How many have created themselves for the same reason?”  Batman gestured with his hands.  “No sooner does a powerful hero arise in a city than powerful criminals begin to flock there for the honor of defeating the strongest man on earth.”

                Diana said nothing.  It made an unfortunate amount of sense.

                “I had… hoped to save Gotham from this kind of escalation.”  Batman continued, returning his gaze to his fingers.  “True, Gotham has metas of its own, but they are manageable, containable.  I don’t have to destroy an entire city block just to defeat Killer Croc, or even Bane.  There’s a reason why insurance rates are so high in Metropolis, and in turn a reason why barely anyone can afford to live there.  I work from the shadows, I remain as inconspicuous as possible, and hence the metas ignore this city.”  A small grin tugged at his face. “As a mere man, I present no challenge, after all.”

                “So you’ve been keeping the League from this city to make it appear unimportant.”

                “Exactly.  Meta-criminals have no interest in Gotham.  Gangsters do, because it is the only place most feel they have a chance.  But so do businesses, research centers, and new families.  While Metropolis’ tourism business has been booming, Gotham’s industry and population have been growing at unprecedented rates.  Most people would rather live in a city where the buildings stay standing.”

                “I… see.”  Diana blinked, her mind reeling.  All this was very new to her, very different from the world of warriors and battles she’d known in Themyscira and the Justice League.  She had never really considered the domestic or economic side of their work.  And she’d never thought that Bruce considered it either.

                A snort interrupted her thoughts.  “Bruce Wayne is not completely a disguise.  I am also a businessman.”  Clearly reading her mind, Batman glared at her.

                “Of… of course.”  Diana returned her interest to the screen.  “So… you’re saying that I’ve given Gotham a reputation for supers, and now the supervillains will start coming.”

                “Like moths to a candle.”  Batman turned back to the computer.  “Don’t expect me to believe that Cheetah’s appearance, within a week of your own, is any sort of coincidence.”

                “Give me some sort of credit, Bruce.  I can see the connection there easily enough.”  Diana snorted, momentarily forgetting herself. 

                Batman gave an almost-apologetic nod.  “Very well.”  He paused a moment.  “This time, Princess, can I expect you to better abide by my rules?”

                Shooting a disbelieving look at the crimefighter, Diana cleared her throat several times before responding.  “Well… yes, of course.  Now that I understand the reasoning behind them.”  She hesitated, unsure as to the wisdom of pressing further.  “But… Bruce?  Why are you inviting me to take care of this?  Isn’t this…  I mean, it seems like normally you’d just take care of her yourself.”

                For a moment there was a silence, and Diana stood there in confused anxiety.  Finally, with a sigh, Batman swiveled his chair around to face her.

                “Something else has been happening in Gotham since you arrived.”  He admitted.  “The gangs, cartels, and mobs have been falling apart.  Members are leaving, children on the streets no longer flock to the nearest racket boss.  And there’s more.”  Uncharacteristically, he hesitated, and then, with a grimace, continued.  “The people in Gotham have started to stand up against the criminals.  Just small reports, mind you—an officer who refused to cooperate, a clerk who tackled a gunman—but it’s something I’d never thought to see.”

                “So.”  He shrugged.  “If you disappear, the criminals return and gain more power than ever before.  The people lose heart and become even more servile than before.  For the time being, then, it’s important you remain in Gotham.”  His glare quickly stopped the smile rising on the Amazonian’s lips.  “But it will be on MY terms, princess.”

                Naruto had had a lot of stupid ideas in his life.  Stealing the scroll.  Mouthing off to everyone in class.  Challenging Neji.  Chasing after Sasuke.  Stupid ideas filled his brain like air filled a balloon.  By this point, he could even recognize a stupid idea as it formed.

                So, as he stood before Raven’s door and stared at the numerous strange symbols surrounding it, he could tell, this was a stupid idea.  But that had never really stopped him before, so he knocked on the door anyway.

                He felt almost surprised when the door opened immediately and an irate Raven stepped out.  “Gar, I told you, I…”  She stopped.  “Oh.  It’s you.”  Though she rolled her eyes, she did not leave the door.  “Fine.  What is it?”

                “Um… I wanted to talk to you.”

                “So?”

                “Ah…”  This girl’s stare rather disconcerted him.  It felt something like meeting a much calmer Gaara.   “Well… the guys at the watchtower said you were a demon host of some kind.  Y’know, like me.”

                Raven winced slightly.  “So?”

                “Well… you just seem to have yours under better control, that’s all.   I was wondering if you could teach me how to control Kyuubi.”  Naruto tried a winning smile.  Asking a GIRL for help was a slightly new experience for him—his harem-no-jutsu would have no effect here.

                “Kyuubi?  Nine-tails?”  The girl gave a little snort.  “That’s what yours is called?”

                “Yeah.  Can you help me get him under control?”

                “No.”

                “What?”  Not much of a surprise really, but he simply had to know more.  “Why not?”

                In response, Raven shrugged.  “It’s pointless.  Besides, I don’t like you.”

                He’d expected that.  Neji had told him.  “Why?  We’re both jinchuuriki!  We need to stick together, we… we’re really pretty similar, if you think about it!”

                “Not really.”  Raven shook her head.  “I’m not this jinchuuriki of yours.  I’m more like… I guess you’d call it a hanyou.  A half-demon.  I don’t really contain a demon so much as provide a portal for one to destroy the world.”

                “Wait, what?”  Naruto blinked.

                “Exactly,” nodded Raven, eyes neutral.  “I seriously doubt you’ve been through the experience of destroying your entire home world and nearly destroying your new one.”

                Naruto frowned.  “Maybe not, but everybody always expected me to.”

                “Another difference.  None of my friends believed I would.”  She frowned.  “I don’t know what it’s like to have people hate you for something you didn’t do.  I only know what it is to go through life knowing you’re fated to kill everyone, even your friends, someday.”  Her eyes narrowed.  “You tell me, which is worse?”

                “Don’t YOU start with the fate crap.”  Naruto seethed.  The girl was starting to get on his nerves.  “How am I supposed to know?”

                “Exactly.  You’re not supposed to.  You can’t.  Just as I can’t know what it’s like to be you.”  Once again Raven turned toward the room.  “Thus why my help is pointless.  I don’t understand demon hosts because I’m a hanyou, and I don’t understand YOU because I’ve never had your background.  The only thing I DO understand about you is your demon, and even if Trigon says he’s a pitiful weakling, I don’t trust him.  Or your friend, for that matter.”

                “My friend?”  Naruto blinked.

                “That white-eyed girl.”  Raven spoke over her shoulder, her hand on the door.  “Trigon might despise you, but he’s SCARED of her.  And Trigun hasn’t been scared of anything for as long as I can remember.”

                “Fascinating.”  Neji observed.  “I have never seen another taijutsu fighter to match Lee like that.”

                “Martial arts… we call them… here,” panted Robin.  Despite the Hyuuga’s words of praise he could not help feeling chagrined.  Lee had been exhausted, handicapped, and predicatable, and stlll it had taken him forever to defeat the green chunin.  He had intended to battle Neji after, but he saw now that was out of the question.

                Lee, at least, did not seem dampened by his loss.  “Yosh, my youthful comrade!”  he cried, eyes filled with tears.  “Once again I find a worthy rival to pit myself against.  I must fight you thirty thousand more times, and then I must…”

                “Afraid that’s out of the question.”  Robin shook his head wearily.  “I don’t think I have the strength for thirty thousand more matches.”

                “Then at least tell me how to improve my fighting skills, so that I might learn from you, most worthy rival!”

                Robin cocked an eye at Neji, who simply shrugged.  “I must confess I’m puzzled by it myself.”

                “Very well,” shrugged Robin.  “You all rely far too strongly on a particular form of combat.  Lee moves quickly, but he only knows one martial… ah, taijutsu style, and that makes his moves more predictable.  Also, you telegraph your moves rather strongly… I’d say because you’re compensating for the momentum your weighted feet have.  Though I admire your devotion to train with them on, I think it might be more beneficial to take them off for fights so that you can move more nimbly.”

                Neji’s mouth twitched.  “That is not wholly probable.  Very well, what else?”

                “The style he uses is much too straightforward.  If I were you, I should add some variety to your talents by learning other kinds of… taijutsu.  Instead of making faster moves, focus on making more unpredictable ones.”

                “As you did, my youthful comrade?”  Lee’s face was intent on Robin’s every word.

                “I’ve been trained in nearly sixty-four different forms of unarmed combat.”  Robin nodded.  “It makes my attacks rather… unique.”

                Neji inclined his head.  “So I observed.”

                “You suffer from the same problem, by the way.  You only know one style of combat, and it’s a tight, rigidly controlled style.  You should think of new ways to implement your ability, so you can take opponents off-guard.”

                “Unfortunately, that is not very doable.”  Neji frowned.  “Jyuuken and straight taijutsu are about the only two different attack styles in Konoha.  Or, indeed, in the world, so far as I know.  There is Drunken Fist, of course, but that cannot be learnt.”

                Robin cocked an eyebrow.  “Seriously?  A whole world of fighters and you only have two styles of marti… taijutsu?”

                “Indeed yes.”  Lee nodded sadly, then suddenly brightened.  “But now that we are here in this world, Robin-san, perhaps you can teach us these other styles you know!  In that manner we can all improve ourselves!”

                “That would be… interesting.” Neji agreed.

                Robin considered this a moment.  While he did not especially look forward to the prospect of fighting Lee every day, it had been a while since he had a decent opponent in this area.  And it would definitely sharpen his reflexes.  Plus, the boy’s style was totally different from any of the martial arts he knew.  It would definitely be useful to study.

                After a moment, he nodded.  “Very well then.”

                “The guards tell me you have quite the provocative nature, Miss Tenten.”  Luthor smiled down on the glaring girl.  “Are the accommodations not to your liking?”

                ‘The accommodations’ were not terribly different from they had been at the beginning.  The girl lay, cuffed to the bed, tilted up to face Luthor.  A series of tubes and wires took care of all her bodily needs, but for mental stimulation she had little else besides blank white walls to stare at.  Even the machines she was hooked to were located behind her bed, where she could not see them.  The lack of stimulation was designed to either make her talk or drive her crazy.  Possibly both.

                At his first session with this girl, Luthor had tried the bed’s electro-shocking ability.  The lack of affect it had on the girl convinced him to try another tack, and so he’d left her alone for the next few days.  Looking at the records, he saw those had been a rather interesting few days.

                “I hear you’ve been quite abusive with my guards.  Several of them have even tried to shoot you for your behavior.”  Luthor consulted the clipboard in his hands, though perfectly aware of what it said.  “Five, it says.  In less than a week.  Quite impressive, Miss Tenten, my guards are very well-trained, it takes a good deal to provoke them.  I had to execute three of them for their unprofessional behavior.”  He leant forward, rubbing his chin with one hand.  “Now, whatever could have you so agitated?”

                Stone fury gazed back at him.  The girl kept her lips tightly clamped.

                “Shall I tell you what I think?”  He paused.  “I think you are interested in their weaponry.”

                For an instant, shock cracked the stone façade and her eyes widened slightly, but it was gone in another moment.

                This girl was SO amusing.  Quite the study in defiance.  “You’re a very weapons-oriented person, Miss Tenten.  When you arrived here, my assistants removed nearly fourteen different weapons concealed on your person.”   Luthor smiled at the sudden flame that filled the girl’s cheeks.  “In addition, we detected nearly seventy weapons in those… scrolls you were carrying.  As the scrolls are full of nothing of writing, we still don’t know how that’s possible, but I have the utmost faith in my sensors.”  He paused.  “I don’t suppose you’d care to tell us how you do that.”

Again, the girl said nothing, but there was just a hint of triumph about her.

“Ah well.  We’ll find it eventually.  For the time being, the point is that we know you to be a very weapons-oriented person.  And, given your behavior, I believe this fixation has carried over to your imprisonment.”  Luthor leaned a little closer to enjoy the slightly wary look growing on the girl’s face.  “I have video cameras in these cells, you realize.  I’ve observed nearly every ‘incident’ you provoked, and I find it rather interesting how, throughout each incident, your attention is always focused not on the guard, but rather the weapon he holds.”

The girl shook her head, just a touch too quickly.  Now he had her.  Nervous, questioning, beginning to lose faith in the image she was keeping up.  A touch of flattery, now, to delude her into thinking she was in control.

“You’re quite a resolute individual, Miss Tenten, and I imagine it would take quite a while to break you traditionally.  So I propose a deal.  You tell me certain things I wish to know, and in return, I allow you to play with the little toys you see the guards use each day.”

Even her stone face could not fully hide the eagerness flickering across her eyes.  Slowly, tentatively, her mouth parted.  “One question for one hour.”

“You can’t expect me to make much off of that.  Three questions for every hour, but you will have three different weapons to use.  Under controlled conditions, of course.”  With practiced ease Luthor kept the smile from his face.  Rotating the weapons would make it much harder for her to learn how to use them.  ‘Controlled conditions’ could be controlled enough to make whatever she DID learn negligible.  And, even then, the weapons they gave her could be… altered enough to make sure she never learned anything useful.

The girl’s eyes flickered back and forth as she thought, obviously warring between her inclination and obstinance.  Luthor waited, already sure of the answer.  All her answers would be lies, of course, but he would glean the truth from them.

“Okay.  Deal.”

                Hinata didn’t really like fighting.  It wasn’t that she was bad at it—indeed, by ordinary standards she was quite capable—it was that she often couldn’t see the point.  Especially on missions, where often the point was the fulfillment of some arbitrary contract filed by an unseen client.  Whenever Hinata fought, it was more for her teammates than the mission.  It meant that she would probably never be a good ninja, but it was the only thing that could really motivate her.  Almost instinctively, she moved to defend more than attack.

                In that sense, Hinata loved the type of work they did in Jump City.   The missions had clearly defined reasons behind them, and most revolved around protecting the populace.  The only downside was that she was utterly useless at it.

                Not… Hinata’s normal kind of useless.  Not useless in the sense that she could never work up the willpower or courage, useless in the sense that she had no actually helpful abilities.  Sure, the Byakugan was useful for locating and pursuing criminals, but beyond that—without visible chakra pathways, Hinata coulb not target the usual weak points.  She didn’t have Neji’s talent for locating organs, even if that was still a viable option.

                Hence, Hinata’s role, in most patrols, was crowd control.  Usually, the Titans didn’t have such a role, and the ninjas DEFINITELY didn’t.  However, it did make the job of the fighters much easier, as they didn’t have to worry about harming the civilians and were able to completely focus on the villain.

                And in a fight with someone like Mumbo the Magnificient, focus was key.

                “And now my amazing assistant will escape from the box of knives!”  The green-faced man giggled.  “Or perhaps he won’t.  Makes no difference to me.”

                Said box burst apart and Sai leapt at the madman.

                “Allaa Kazamm!”  Mumbo’s wand suddenly grew to twice its length and knocked the Root nin back.  “Now for my disappearing act!”  With  a great leap, Mumbo started bounding away. 

                “Pursue, friend ninjas!”  Starfire shouted, eyes blazing.  “The Mumbo must not be allowed to escape!”

                “Pursuit already in progress,” nodded Shino, leaping ahead of the pack.  Shino’s vendetta against this particular criminal worried Hinata, she thought that perhaps Mumbo’s “flea circus” transformation of Shino’s kikai bugs had somewhat… irked the normally logical Aburame. 

                Fortunately, Sai seemed to be more than up to the task.  “Occupying flank position.”  He nodded, moving over to the side.  “Bearing of target?”

                “Due west, five kilometers an hour.”  Hinata answered.

                Ninjas moved quickly.  Tamaranians flew.  Mumbo’s attempted getaway was a lost cause from the beginning, really.  They caught up with him somewhere in a run-down residential area and quickly circled him.  Mumbo, however, showed no signs of giving up. 

“Abracadabra!”  A piano materialized from thin air and plummeted toward Shino, who merely leapt aside with a huff of annoyance.  Two streams of bugs shot out from his sleeves at the magician, who merely flicked his fingers, turning them into confetti.  However, the distraction allowed Sai to run up behind the intruder, even as  Starfire flew up into the air to unleash a barrage.

That, however, was their business.  Hinata’s was crowd control.  There were a lot of people in this area, all of them were in danger, and Hinata was nearly panicking with the task of protecting them all.  She barely managed to shatter the piano before it hit the crowd of people on the sidewalk, and the spray of deflected kunai as Sai launched his attack nearly speared (or at least badly injured) three bystanders.

“Apologies, but you must stop, green man!”  A stream of green energy shot down from the air, apparently missing the magician as it smashed into the building just behind him. 

Hinata’s eyes widened.  The rubble… ohnoohnoohnoohno…  The ground flew under her feet as she dove for a small black girl directly in its path.  Please let me get there, please let me get there…

She didn’t get there in time.  Fortunately, an old man did, nearly a second before her.  He had been running for cover from the kunai, saw Starfire’s blast, and leapt at the girl.  Though considerably closer than Hinata, he was also considerably slower, and merely an inch away from danger, he tripped and fell, right into the path of another boulder.  He and the girl looked up, their eyes widened…

“Hai!”  Hinata screamed, leaping over them.  Bursting into a premature version of the Celestial Spin, she blew the rock away and into the air, nearly missing Mumbo, who faltered in his next spell and took a direct hit from Starfire.

Hinata sighed with relief as the madman tumbled earthward, his spells dissolving.  Turning to the man and girl, she did her best to smile as she asked:  “Are you alright?”

The little girl just whimpered, staring up at her with frightened eyes, but the elderly man seemed to be much more cognizant of matters.  “Ah… yes.  Yes we are.”  He answered, straightening his glasses and brushing bits of concrete from his sweater.  “My leg hurts, but there’s nothing new about that.  Thank you, young lady.”

“Let me take a look at your leg,” offered Hinata, bending over the man.

“Don’t bother.  Honestly.”  A strange light came into his eyes as he looked at her.  “Tell me, young lady, “ asked he suddenly, “is your name Hyuuga Hinata?”

“What?” cried Hinata.  Jump City residents were getting used to the ninjas, but few recognized them on sight, and NONE had recognized her, the crowd-control specialist.  Still, she managed to get ahold of herself.  “I mean… yes, I am.  How… Why do you ask?”

“Amazing.”  The man murmured, seemingly to himself.  “I don’t know how he does it.  Or rather, I do, I suppose, but…” he shook his head with a whimsical smile.  “Young lady, I have a message for you.  I was sent here to give it to you.”

“Message?” blinked Hinata, sparing a glimpse to her teammates.  “What message?  From whom?”

The man offered her an understanding smile.  “Oh, come now.  You must know that.  Or at least, have an idea.”

Hinata did have an idea.  A very unsettling idea.

“My friend says there’s a lot you still need to know to prepare for what’s coming.”  An annoyed expression crossed the man’s face for a moment.  “I wish he’d be a bit more clear with his messages sometimes.  I don’t even know what that means.”  Again he shook his head.  “Anyway.  He said that he’d like to talk with you someplace outside the Tower, in the city.”

“Where?”  Hinata half-whispered.

A shrug came in reply.  “He didn’t say.  I’m afraid he’s horribly remiss in finding convenient spots to talk to people.  Say…”  The man frowned in thought a moment.  “Ah.  The very place.  Tell you what, go to the Noodle Nexus at 11am next week.  That should be good.  I’ll let him know about it, and you can meet each other there.”  He offered a grandfatherly smile.  “Sound good?  And please child, don’t worry.  He’s not nearly as scary as he seems.”

                “Drunk found wandering along M-45… false trail.”  Question mused, exiting the police station.  “Drunk obviously not Uchiha.  Where then?”  He shook his head.  “Next incident.”  He reminded himself, picking a notebook from his trenchcoat.  “Armored car robbery, I-89.  Case investigated by a Detective Beckett of Jump City police, division 43.  Report filed in police Archives.”  Nodding, he moved toward the blue sedan parked at the side of the road.

                “What exactly are we doing again?” asked Huntress as Question slid into the driver’s seat.

                “Hunting a fugitive.”  Question replied, starting the car.

                “Well this hunt stinks.  We’re not finding anything.”

                “We’re scouting the territory.  Searching for trails the fugitive might have left.”  Edging the car out into the road, Question continued, “Fugitive is of a naturally violent nature and unfamiliar with world.  Would undoubtedly attract attention on escape from Jump City.  Therefore, necessary to investigate disturbances recorded upon day of fugitive’s assumed flight from Jump City.”

                “Hmph.”    Huntress pouted, staring out the window.  “When you said we were going on a road trip, I had something a little less boring in mind.”

                “Most hunts are boring, in the initial phases.  A successful hunter must sometimes stalk his prey for many miles, must sometimes sit in one spot for many hours waiting for his prey to come to him.”

                “Question, my name is HUNTRESS.”

“Actually, your name is Helena…”

“Okay, the callsign is Huntress, whatever.  I KNOW about hunting.  I know it’s boring.  Road trips, though, are not.”  She glowered at him.  “At least they’re not supposed to be.  They’re supposed to be spent jumping from random motel to motel, living with no thought for tomorrow, driving past  beautiful scenery… that kind of thing.”

“And don’t you enjoy the beautiful scenery of the ghettos?”  A touch of amusement entered the faceless man’s voice.

“Q…”

“We’ll jump to a random motel fairly soon.  I’m afraid I’m out of practice with living with no thought for tomorrow.  In the meantime, why don’t you sit back and enjoy the eccentric charm of my presence?”

Huntress rolled her eyes and leaned back in the seat.  “You do realize you’re lucky to have me along, right?  I don’t do League business.”

“This isn’t League business.”

A half-hour later, they pulled up outside a rather formidable-looking station.  “Wait here,” said Q, opening his door.

Snorting, Huntress kicked her own door open.  “As if.  I’ve been warming the car seat all night.  YOU stay here, I’ll get this pretty file of yours.”

“Suit yourself.”  Question shrugged, handing her a notecard.  “Here’s the number.  It should be in the archives on the third floor, west wing.”

Taking the card with a nod, Huntress fired a cable up to the roof and shot away.  Question watched her for a moment, then reached over to the radio and clicked it on.  Pop music floated through the car as he reclined his seat back and waited.  Occasionally he checked his watch.

Fifteen minutes later, muffled shouts issued from the windows, and the crack of pistols filled the air.  Question popped his chair back up and started the engine, arching an eyebrow at the building as he did so.  A few moments later, Huntress crashed from a second-floor window, landing heavily on the street and dashing over to the car.  Bullets whizzed through the air and popped against the pavement as police officers crowded the windows.  Question set the car in drive, picking up speed as he headed towards her.  Scarcely stopping, she grabbed hold of the car’s door and swept inside, shouting, “Go!”

Question quietly complied, foot slamming down on the gas.  A few shells clattered against the rear window, but they were soon left behind.  A screech of tires whipped them into an inconspicuous alley, and moments later they were quietly watching flashing lights race by on the main streets.

“You’re getting better at stealth.”  Question commented.  “It took them much longer to notice you.”

Huntress rewarded him with a glare.  “Shut it.  If it weren’t for you and your stupid ‘don’t kill the police officers’ rule, I’d be in and out of there in no time.”

“Have you got the file?” 

“Here.”  Handing over a bulky folder, Huntress let out a little huff of frustration.  “Now can we jump into a random motel?”

“I think the police will be shadowing the random motels for a while.  We’ll be better off spending the night in the car.”  Question completely missed the devious look that spread across his girlfriend’s face.  “Here we are,” he commented, picking out a sheaf of papers.  “Hmmm…. Not promising… Rockets used to blow open truck, guards killed with bullets… not exactly ninja tactics.  Thugs found dead at scene—a gang war of some kind?  No, too great a coincidence for two mobs to attack truck at same point.  A betrayal then?  But how…”  Question’s faceless brow wrinkled in sudden concentration.  “Hullo…”

“What?”  Huntress knew that look.  She had a rising suspicion they might not even be spending the night in the car.

Question confirmed her suspicion by throwing the car into drive and pulling out into road.  Tossing the folder at her, he commented.  “All incapacitated thugs found with either burn marks or…” he paused significantly, “…sword wounds.”

“I take it that’s our fugitive then,” sighed Huntress.  “Fine.  So where are we off to now?”

“To the nearest likely shelter.  Highway I-89 is the shortest route between Jump City and one other major city.”

                Once more.  Sasuke replayed the image in his head, watching the terrified thug as he hoisted the gun, lined it up, fired it.  Carefully he repeated the action, hoisting the gun, trying to line it with the target as he had seen the man do, and squeezed the trigger.

                By this point he had gotten used to the kickback of the weapon.  He’d also somewhat adjusted to the tendency of the weapon to fire in bursts.  He’d yet to fully master the art of aiming the projectiles, but as he watched the can on the far side of the warehouse dance about, he felt he was getting close enough.  However, perhaps he ought to do it once more.  Again he hoisted, lined up the sight, and clicked the trigger.

                Nothing happened.

                Sasuke frowned.  He glanced down the barrel of the gun and clicked the trigger again.  Nothing.

                A quick replay through the fight in his head showed him the problem.  As he watched, a number of the guns being used suddenly stopped firing, and the thugs swiftly clicked new capsules into place.  Frowning, he tried to remove the capsule as he saw them do.

                A swift inspection confirmed his theory.  So.  The weapon was out of ammo.  Rather inconvenient, but not debilitating.  He would find another tomorrow, he’d already noticed a great many people in the area carrying similar devices.  Hopefully the protocols were not very different, as he simply did not have the time to invest in a whole new training experience.

                Sasuke’s jutsu training was coming along nicely, but far too slow.  He still had no conception of how a Sharingan could be used to teleport things.  He felt it might have something to do with the Susanoo ability, but that technique was far too exhausting to try repeatedly.  Besides, Kakashi had only one eye, he would not have been able to perform the Susanoo.

                No matter.  He felt fairly secure in his hideaway now.  Tomorrow he would go and fetch more food, along with a new weapon, but he had no fears of being discovered.  This ‘Gotham City’ appeared to be a place that swallowed secrets.

Chapter Text

                At 10:30 am, Hinata crept out of her room.  Fortunately enough of the tower had been renovated for each of the girls to have their private apartment, so no one noticed her departure, nor her uneasy way of slinking through the halls on her way to the exit.  Not that there were many to notice her, most of the others were already busy or out on patrol.    Technically, Hinata was supposed to be on patrol now too, but Robin had granted her time off and sent Chouji in her place.  He hadn’t been too happy with it though… with Ino nearly incapable of serving, Naruto and Sakura insisting on separate patrols, and Lee nearly killing himself with training each day, Hinata’s day off had been a little hard to fit in.  She’d done three extra patrols in order to get this one off.

It was worth it though.  She had to go to the restaurant, she HAD to find out what was going on with her… what was going on with Ino.  True, she did not know whether her problem was connected with Ino’s, nor whether the strange man could explain them, nor even whether the old man’s friend was the same strange man she had met earlier.  But she had to do something.

                The man had been the breaking point.  Yesterday, she’d been up on the roof with Sakura, staring off into the ocean, trying to decide whether or not to go to the meeting.  And then, suddenly, a man had floated into her vision.  A pale, white man, dressed in what seemed like some kind of bizarre red circus outfit.  When she’d gasped and started upright, Sakura had glanced at her and asked what was wrong.  But the man had stared straight at her, as if astonished, and slowly he had faded away again.

                That had decided her.  No matter the consequences, she needed to figure out what was going on with her.   And, if possible, what was going on with Ino.

                She knew it had to be her fault.  She’d done that… that thing with Ino, she’d touched her and made her understand the language.  That had to be the reason why Ino was shut up in her room with all the lights off.  Somehow, she must have done something else to Ino that had made her so jumpy and nervous.

                So for herself and for Ino, she had to go out to meet this man in the restaurant, in the hopes he might be able to help.  And, preferably, she had to do it without any of her friends noticing.  She didn’t know WHAT this man would think if she brought any friends along.  Nor what her friends would think, for that matter. 

Fortunately, after nearly a lifetime of being invisible, Hinata was more than capable of slinking through the Tower down to the ground floor.  She paused before the garage, but then passed on.  Those ‘car’ things were still somewhat beyond her.  A few minutes good running should get her there in no time.  All she had to do was go out the door and…

“Hinata?”

Of all the times she’d hoped to attract Naruto’s attention, why did he have to pick now, when she’d hoped not to?

Trembling uncontrollably, Hinata turned to face the grinning blonde.  “G-g-good m-m-morning N-Naruto-kun.”

“Not morning for much longer,” chuckled Naruto, walking up to her.  “Have you seen Kiba or any of the others?  I thought I might do some sparring or something.”  His eyes lit up suddenly.  “Hey, unless you…”

“I’m… I’m afraid I’m just going out to lunch, Naruto-kun.”  Hinata gave a little bow, her insides twisting.  Of all the times for him to make that offer!  Now he’d think she was avoiding him.

“Lunch?  Where?”  Naruto cocked an eyebrow in interest.

“Um… a place… called the, ah… Noodle Nexus, I think.”  Belatedly Hinata realized she had no idea where the restaurant was.

Naruto’s face lit up.  “Seriously?  That place is AWESOME!  They’ve got like sixty different kinds of ramen there, it’s like… oh man, it’s not as good as Ichiraku’s, but still!”  He closed his eyes in ecstasy.  “Oh, boy.  I still haven’t tried their chocolate ramen.”  His eyes popped open again, bright and eager.  “Hey!  Is it okay if I tag along?”

Hinata blinked.  Several times.  Her face flamed up.  The blood was throbbing in her eardrums, she could feel heat burning from her skin.  All her former thoughts—Ino, the strange man, the things she’d seen—went flying away in a heartbeat.  “B-but Na-Na-Na-Naruto-kun…”

“Please?”  His face took on a puppy-dog like expression.  “I’ll pay for my own food!  I’ll pay for yours, even!  Please?”

Don’tfaintDon’tfaintDon’tfaintDon’tfaintDon’tfaaaaaainnnnnt….  “O-o-o-o-of c-c-c-course you may accompany me, Naruto-kun, if you wish it.”

With a whoop, Naruto leapt into the air and pumped his fist.  “Awesome!  Ramen, here we come!”

“She saw you?”  Superman frowned.  “Are you sure?”

                “Hey, I’m a flippin’ ghost,” snapped Green Arrow.  Or rather, not Green Arrow, but Deadman, a ghost currently inhabiting Arrow’s body.  “I know the difference between looking at someone and looking through them.  Besides, she gasped and jumped up and everything—that’s pretty much standard reaction when you see a ghost.”

                “Perhaps she has some kind of psychic ability to perceive the identities of remaining energies and their respective consciousnesses,” suggested Mr. Terrific.

                Arrow’s eyebrow quirked at the man.  “What’s all this now?  Psychic identities and whatza?”

                “He doesn’t think you’re a ghost.”  Superman pressed his fingers to his head.

                “No, I don’t believe ghosts exist.  ‘Deadman’ just happens to be one of the phenomena regularly mistaken for ghosts.”

                “Oh really?”  Deadman’s voice took on a somewhat more annoyed tone.  “Well, that’s good to know.  What am I then?”

                Mr. Terrific didn’t even blink.  “Most likely residual psychic energies strongly connected with the identity of their former owner.  Perhaps released in the intense trauma forced upon by death, trauma which also caused the energies to form a self-delusionary perception of themselves as a single entity…”

                “Oh, forget it.”  Deadman—or rather, Green Arrow—turned back to Superman.  “I guess it took me a while to get used to the idea too.  Anyway, yeah, I’m pretty sure she saw me.  Not sure how… I mean, she didn’t seem like a medium or anything magical…”

                “Perhaps this chakra of theirs has something to do with it?  Otherwise, I believe that girl also has some special seeing ability…”

                “Uh-uh.  None of the others could see me, not even the other weird kid with white eyes.  I think the creepy grey girl knew I was there, but she just ignored me.”

                Superman glanced to Mr. Terrific, who shrugged.  “Blue Devil did say there was something odd about her.  Perhaps this is a manifestation of it.”

                “Seems to be.”  Superman nodded.  “You’re sure you don’t know anything more?”

                “Nope.”  Deadman shook Arrow’s head.   “Except I can’t body-jack her like what I’m doing to this guy now.  I’ve done it to some of the others—outside the tower, of course, the creepy grey girl’s got that shielded with sigils and other stuff—but I just bounce right off her.  I don’t think she even notices.  Same thing with the blonde kid, though that felt a bit more painful.”  Arrow’s body shivered at the memory.  “Anyway.  But aside from that, no.  Nothin.”

                “Hm.  And you’re sure you haven’t noticed anything strange about the energy around her?”

                It may have been Superman’s imagination, but it seemed that Deadman hesitated ever so slightly.  “Ah… Na.  Nah.  Never seen it before.”

                “Okay.”  Superman turned away from the ghost-possessed Arrow.  “You can let Arrow go now.  Let us know if you find anything further.”

                “Isn’t this place great, Hinata?” asked Naruto, mouth full of ramen.

                “Umm… yes, Naruto-kun.  Yes it is.” 

                “How can you tell?  You haven’t even touched your ramen!”

                “Oh!”  Hinata gave a little jump.  “Oh, yes.”  She started to pick at her bowl of noodles.  Between a lunch with her crush and a meeting with the mysterious otherworldly benefactor, she really didn’t have much of an appetite.

                “See?  Isn’t this place awesome?”

                “Oh yes… yes, definitely.”  Hinata cast a nervous glance at the clock.  They had probably another ten minutes before she could expect her visitor.  She needed to get Naruto to leave before then, but… but… surely a few more  moments couldn’t hurt?  “Yes, it’s very nice Naruto-kun.”

                “Glad you like it,” nodded Naruto, slurping up a long and floppy noodle.  “Actually, I was kinda thinking of asking you down here anyway, so this works out really well.”

                “What?”  Hinata whipped around to stare at him.

                “Well…”  Strangely embarrassed, Naruto turned away to look out the window, scratching the back of his head.  “I wanted… I mean, I never really got the chance to talk to you about… well, y’know.”  He glanced back and tried a half-hearted smile.  “The whole thing with Pain.”

                “Oh.”  Hinata immediately looked down, away.  “W-w-we don’t h-h-have to.  I mean, if y-y-you don’t f-feel comfortable…”

                “No, no.  I want to… I mean, we need to talk about it.  It’s just…”  Naruto sighed.  “Okay, first off.  Jumping out there, in front of Pain, trying to take him down?  That was probably the stupidest thing in the world to do.”

                Still staring at the floor, Hinata gave a short, feeble nod.  “Yes.  I know.”

                “There was absolutely no way in the world you ever stood a chance there.  I mean, you tried to take on a guy who leveled the entire village.  It was probably the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”  He paused a moment, then continued, “It was also one of the most incredibly awesome things I’ve ever seen.”

                Hinata’s head jerked back up.  “B-but N-na-naruto-kun…”

                “Hinata, you faced off against a god.  Or at least a wannabe god.  And you even put up a fight against him, if not a very long one.  That’s some serious level of awesome.”  Grinning, Naruto gave a little shrug.  “Besides, when it comes to doing stupid things, I’m not exactly one to talk.”

                Hinata hiccupped out a laugh. 

“But it was still stupid.  Really stupid.  Promise me you’ll never do anything as stupid as that again.”  Naruto’s face had returned to its serious expression. 

“O-okay.”  Hinata nodded.  She could refuse him nothing, much less something like this.

“Good,” sighed Naruto, leaning back.  “That’s… all I wanted to talk about, I guess.”

All? some distant part of Hinata’s mind wailed.  But she kept her mouth shut and tried to let her relief overwhelm her disappointment.  At least it was over with now. At least…

“Did you mean what you said back there, by the way?”  Naruto was looking at her again.  “About… you know, me showing you the way, and… all that?”

Overcome with embarrassment, Hinata could barely nod her head.  “Y-yes.”

Naruto looked away, out the window.  He drummed his fingers restlessly on the table, bit his lip, then finally said: “That’s… not really such a great idea.”

Hinata frowned.  “What do you mean by that?”

“I’m a stupid guy, that’s what I mean,” grunted Naruto.  “I mean, my way basically is… throw yourself at a problem and hope it gives before you do.  I tough it out because I can, but it’s not really the best way, or even really a good way.”

“But it is…”  Hinata shrank a little as Naruto shifted around to stare at her, but she kept on regardless.  “It’s… you keep trying, Naruto.  You always keep trying, no matter how many times you fail.  It’s…  That’s what I mean.  I always… I always give up, sometimes even before I try.”  Voice now little more than a whisper, she stared at the floor.  “But you… you keep trying.  And that’s how you always win.”

She looked up to see Naruto shaking his head.  “But not without a lot of pain.  I mean, that’s cool for me and all.  Healing factor, y’know.  But for someone else… Shikamaru can think his way out of a steel prison and not get anybody hurt.  Shino can always figure out what’s going on, and usually think of some kind of strategy to work with it.  Even Neji can usually… do SOMETHING.”  He shrugged.  “The point is, my way’s painful.  And slow.”

“But it works, Naruto.”

“For me, yeah.  But for someone like you… there are lots of better ways to follow, Hinata.  You should really…”

“I don’t want to!”  Hinata suddenly snapped.  “And those other ways aren’t better, they’re just… different ways!  Of doing yours!  Shikamaru never used to take planning seriously until you motivated him to keep trying!  Neji always thought there was a cage limiting his growth until he met you!  Shino…”  Hinata paused in her rant, “Shino’s always been Shino, really—but even he realized how important it was to try for things!  None of them would be anything without you!”

“But Hinata…”

“It’s… you need to start realizing how important you are to people, Naruto.”  Eyes nearly brimming, Hinata looked away.  “You inspire… everybody  to keep trying harder.  Because that’s why… that’s why you’re always getting stronger.  Because you never give up.”

There was a long silence.  Hinata didn’t dare to look at Naruto, she just sat there, eyes squeezed shut, heedless of the liquid seeping from her eyelids.  The only sound in the restaurant was the ticking of the clock.

“Not very observant, is he?”

                Hinata recoiled with a start at the sudden voice.  Sitting just across from her was the strange red-haired man in the green trenchcoat, his eyes fixed on an unconscious Naruto. 

                Striding from the practice room, Robin called back, “We’ll do some more Sambo tomorrow.  In the meantime, keep practicing those forms I showed you.”

                “Yosh, Robin-sensei!”

                Training Lee was surprisingly easy once Robin hit on the idea of only allowing him to use the new moves during their spars.  Although he was as fast as ever, Lee had understandable difficulty in using the new forms, and that gave Robin a decided edge.  And once Lee had mastered the forms (usually after a few days of solid training) he was exhausted enough for Robin to at least keep up with.  Still.  He tended to win most of their bouts.

                But Robin was getting better too.  His already-primed reflexes had nearly doubled in speed, and he had gained a much closer working knowledge of Lee’s style.  There were definite elements of Wing Chun in it, though it seemed to have evolved in a much different manner.  Most noticeable was its reliance on footwork.  Apparently the ninjas wanted the hands free as much as possible, presumably to perform their ‘seals’ with.

                Neji, though, Robin didn’t quite know how to handle.  He didn’t know many martial arts that depended only on touch points, and he wasn’t familiar enough with the Hyuuga’s power to develop any.  Neji’s style was understandably hand-based—apparently that was how they shot the chakra at the internal organs—but that made it a little predictable.  And also, he imagined, kept the Hyuuga from using jutsus as the other ninjas did.  Perhaps chakra could also be directed through the feet?  He’d have to talk to Neji about that.

                For the moment, though, he had more pressing matters, namely, Neji’s cousin.  The girl had been strangely insistent on getting time off on this particular day, at this particular time, and had offered no explanation why.  Obviously, she had a meeting or event of some kind to attend, but none of the other ninjas had objected to being offered the same time slot, so they were not meeting with her.  But if she was not meeting with someone in the tower, who WAS she meeting with?

The ploy was so obvious, Robin had almost suspected a counter-ploy, but the frail Hyuuga did not seem like the type.  Unless, of course, THAT was also a ploy, but Robin doubted it.  In any case, she apparently hadn’t noticed the device he’d planted on her headband this morning, because the blinking dot on the control room screen was still there, and it was nowhere near the tower. 

“Switch to video feed.”  Robin ordered as he entered the room.

“Affirmative,” replied the computer.

The screen went entirely dark and remained so.  “Unavailable,” explained the computer, with a hint of apology.

Robin frowned.  “Audio?”

“Unavailable.”

“Hm.”  Perhaps the Hyuuga girl had figured it out after all.  “Assess tracker condition.”

“Tracker: Operational and in working order.”

“Signal strength?”

“Signal strength within prime parameters.  Two-second delay between tracker recording and update on screen.”

“Audio and Video elements of tracker?”

“Operational but unresponsive.”

Curious.  Few people would have the know-how to do that to one of Robin’s trackers, and certainly none of the ninjas would.  An accident, then?  Unlikely.  In any case, there was one way to tell for sure.  “Play back tracker video feed two minutes prior to last recorded available data feed.”

“Affirmative.”  The screen filled with an image of a very familiar diner, with a very familiar blonde sitting at it. 

Robin frowned in surprise.  She was meeting with Naruto?  But Naruto had been willing to patrol at this time, so how… of course.  His doppelganger ability.  Robin should have thought of that.  Why all the secrecy though?  Just a shy girl’s desire to keep her affairs private?  Possible, he supposed.  But why would Naruto hide it?  Because of Sakura, perhaps?  He still hadn’t figured out THAT whole mess.

The video suddenly blacked out and Robin shook himself into alertness.  “Replay last five seconds.”

“Affirmative.”  The screen showed an apparently neck-level view of the diner window and the street beyond.  A few people passed by and then… blackness.  No static, no sudden movement, just… blackness.

“Hm.”  Very puzzling.  By all appearances, the girl had done nothing to the device, certainly it was in the same place it had been, but yet it could give him no information.  How odd.

Perhaps listening to their conversation would give him a better idea.  Robin clicked a few keys on the computer and settled back to listen.  As Naruto’s comments about ramen filled his ears, he continued thinking on one thing.

What could have caused this?

Hinata stared.  There he was.  The man from the park.  The man she’d seen standing on the water.  The man, she felt certain, who’d done… whatever-it-was that had been done to her.  And he was simply sitting across from her as if it was the most natural thing in the world, hands folded on the table, head tilted quizzically at the slumbering form of her crush.

“An interesting person,” commented the man distantly.  “Not the greatest thinker, or the greatest fighter, his main virtue is simply that he doesn’t know when to quit.”  He arched an eyebrow.  “The boy thrives on struggle, he can never be satisfied except with dissatisfaction.  Fortunately, that is all he is ever likely to find in this life.”

                “Y-y-y-y-you… y-y-you…”  Hinata stammered.  “H-ha-have you been following me?”

                “Yours is the soul that guides me.”  The man turned his stare to her.  “I must.”

                “Wha--what did you do to him?”  She pointed at Naruto.

                “Nothing harmful.  He shall awaken after we have finished.”

                “Finished what?”

                “Talking.”  His eyes burned into her.  “The knowledge that you need is not yet yours.”

                “And… you can give it to me?”

                “Naturally.”  The man gave a measured nod.  “It was for that purpose that I arranged this meeting.”

                “Th-th-th-the old man…”

                Another nod.  “Norman is one of my few intermediaries… friends, I should say.  I did not think it wise to confront you in front of your peers, as they would find your position difficult to understand.”  He made a slightly apologetic gesture.  “I could, of course, have appeared to you in a vision, but that might have alerted the half-demon, and in any case Norman tells me visions are disturbing.  Therefore, I deemed a face-to-face talk the most effective medium for the information I have to impart.”

                “Ah.”  Hinata managed.  A few moments later, she finally got out, “Who… who are you?”

                “I am the Light of…” the man stopped and seemed to collect himself.  “Forgive me.  Norman is always telling me I must try to be more personable in my interactions with humans.  My NAME is James Corrigan, a former police detective.”

“And you… you are responsible for what is… happening to me?”

                “Indeed,” nodded the man.  “Upon your arrival into this world, I sensed your nature and sought you out.  While you were interred at this city’s hospital, I visited you in your sleep and touched you with the Eleventh Presence, granting unto you the powers that you now possess.”

                Deep in Hinata’s mind, the words touched a cord.  She’d felt a presence in her dream, just before waking in the hospital.  “Like the… the speech thing?”

                “Yes.  One of my simpler gifts, the Tongue of Fire.  All men, of any nation, world, or plane, can understand your words as you can understand them.  It was necessary you be given it, so you could establish trust between yourself and the reporter, and later between your teammates with the Justice League.”

                Hinata almost fainted from shock.  “You… you knew?  Back then?  That all this would happen?”

                “Some of it.”  The man inclined his head.  “I am not all-knowing, but I know certain elements of the future and what I must do to bring them about.  It is crucial, after all, that I fulfill my part in the Great Song.”

                Song, gift, Tongue of Fire, Eleventh Presence…  Hinata’s mind was reeling.  She’d come seeking answers, and so far she’d found only more puzzles.  “Who are you?”  She whispered, staring in bewildered shock at the man.  “Who are you really?”

                The man’s eyes bored into her.  “You wish to know my true name then?  Very well.  I am Uriel, bearer of the Chalice and the Rod, who stands within the second bloom of the Rose of Light and sings the Third Strain.  I serve as the vengeance of God upon the guilty, and his hand of justice upon those that defy his name.  Upon this world, those that know me call me the Spectre.”

                “Angel?”  Shino glanced curiously at Cyborg.  “What is an angel?”  Patrol had been rather quiet today, and Cyborg had just made a passing comment about guardian angels.

                “You’re kidding, right?”  Cyborg threw him a disbelieving glance.

                “I’ve never heard of it before either,” piped Chouji from below. 

                “Guess not then.”  Cyborg sighed.  “Well, I don’t know.  It’s just an expression you use, man, when you get the feeling that someone’s watching over you.  Y’know, like when you’re running down the street toward some baddy, and the bullets are clattering all around you but somehow DON’T HIT you?  That’s when you say, ‘Man, I must have a guardian angel watching over me.’”

                “So like… an invisible personal bodyguard?”

“I guess.  It’s just an expression, dude.”

“Interesting.  Is ‘angel’ your word for bodyguard then?”

“No, I… look, do you guys seriously have no idea about the meaning?”

“I can find no logical counterpart in the dictionary implanted into my head.  The closest I can understand is that it is a minor spirit of some kind.”

“That’s… about right, I guess.  I dunno, I don’t really look into it much myself, but they’re like these big guys with wings and halos and harps and stuff.  They’re supposed to watch over the earth and the people on it and everything.  I guess… I don’t understand your guy’s mythology real well, but I suppose the closest thing I could say is that they’re like demons, only good.”

“Curious.  So they are infinite sources of chakra?  Why do they play harps?”

“No, they… look, dude, just forget it, okay?”  Cyborg sighed and returned to scanning the city skyline.  “Don’t even know why I brought it up anymore.”

                Angel.  Hinata knew, immediately, what the term meant, and also understood how foreign a concept this was to her world.  And yet, in some strange way, she felt completely familiar with it, as if it were some strange concept she’d always known but never really thought about.  She never even considered disbelieving the man, his very presence convinced her of its truth.

                “As an angel, I am naturally bound to destiny.” continued the Spectre, apparently heedless of her shock, “Or rather, I am bound as all beings are, but have a clearer understanding of my role within it.  Most know me only as an angel of vengeance.”  Glancing across the street, he frowned suddenly at a young woman jogging along the sidewalk.  The girl immediately fell to the ground, clutching her heart.

                People crowded around the fallen figure outside the window as Hinata gaped in horror.  The Spectre continued to stare out the window dispassionately.  “Ramona Simmons.”  He responded, in answer to Hinata’s terrified glance.  “Aged twenty-three, lives on Ivy Street, works at Agility Physical Therapy center as a receptionist.  I gave her a simple stroke.  Quick, relatively painless.  I assure you, the young man she murdered three days ago had a MUCH more painful time dying.  I should, perhaps, have dealt with her sooner, but  then she would not have had the chance to inspire a young boy earlier today.”

                Turning from the window, Hinata closed her eyes and willed herself not to throw up or faint or cry or anything like that.  She needed to focus.

                “Where was I?” frowned Spectre.  “Ah yes.  Roles.  Mostly, I am known as the Angel of Vengeance.  And while this is true, I have other roles, one of which I am fulfilling now by meeting with you.  The course of the future is set, and I must make preparations for it.  The power I gave you was one such preparation.  Another is this meeting, arranged at this particular time and place.”

                Hinata found her voice.  “B-but the old man…”

                “Norman chose the place and time himself, yes,”  Spectre nodded.  “I did not know myself when the meeting was to be.  But he did so unwittingly in concert with how they were meant to be.  Destiny and Free Will are surprisingly close in some ways.  If he had not chosen this particular place, for instance, would this boy have accompanied you today?”  He gestured toward Naruto.

                Hinata hesitated.  “P-pro-probably n-not.  B-but why…”

                “And this time also doubtless has it’s significances.  At this moment in time, doubtless many other things are happening which, however unwittingly, are connected to what we here are doing and saying.  But then…”  The man shrugged his shoulders.  “…there is nothing new about that.  All events, while uniquely situated in space-time, have close interconnections with all others.”

                “Ah… I’m… s-sorry, I don’t… I’m not sure I quite understand.”

                “No.  I imagine not, it is a bit difficult to take in all at once.”  Spectre let out a hissing sigh.  “Very well.  Let us say, then, that it was important that we meet at this specific place, at this specific time, even if Norman did not intend it to be so when he chose it.  As proof…”  Spectre again gestured toward Naruto, “…we have this boy, who might otherwise not be here.”

                “B-but… why is it so i-important that Naruto-kun be here?”  Hinata ventured to ask.

                Spectre gave a little shrug.  “Several reasons.  He makes a useful example for much of what I have to say, he provides an excuse for your being here, and his presence allows me to explain why I sought you out.”  He looked straight at her.  “Because yours is a ministering spirit.”

                “What are you doing?”

                “Shh!”  The cat under the bush hissed back at her.  “Can’t you see I’m in disguise?  Do you want to give me away?”

                Raven rolled her eyes.  “If you’re disguised as a green cat I don’t really see the need to worry.”

                After a moment of apparent thought, the cat shifted into a lizard.  “There.”  It squawked.  “NOW I’m in disguise.  Happy?”

                “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here.”

                “It’s none of your business.”

                A snort.  “Ah.  Well, I remember how deeply you feel about meddling in other people’s affairs.”

                “Shut up.”  The lizard shot her an annoyed glance as he scampered  out from under the bush.  “Look, if you’re going to stay here and be annoying, you might as well help me see better.”

                “See wha…  AGH!  Hey!”  Raven gave a small backward hop as the lizard slithered up her leg.  In a few seconds she had the intrusive little reptile caught in a globe of dark energy.  “You’ve got five seconds to explain what that was about.”

                “Jeez, Raven, chill!”  The lizard writhed in the shadow’s grip.  “I was trying to get to your shoulder so I can see the street better!”

                “And why’s that so important?” asked Raven, lifting the reptile to her shoulder.  She was standing just outside the E-Z Mart across from Jump City High school, right beside a decorative little bush in a flower pot.  At the moment, the street was filling with cars prepared to take teenagers to lunch, but nothing particularly notable seemed to be happening.

                “It’s just… look, stop talking to me!”  The lizard hissed.  “Anybody who sees you talking to a lizard is going to think you’re crazy! And… oh shoot… I just realized you’re wearing your uniform.”

                “Noticed that, did you?”  Raven cocked a sarcastic eyebrow at him.  “Thought you might’ve picked up on it when you were climbing up my leg like that.”

                “Oh I didn’t… I mean, I wasn’t…  Look, just forget it.”  The lizard writhed in embarrassment.  “Can you just… be less obvious?  If they see you standing out here, I’ll be in sooooo much hot water.”

                “Who’s they?”

                “Look, just do it, can’t you?”

                Raven sighed.  “Fine,” said she, stepping back into the shadows of the alley and casting a spell to hide them.  “But you’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

                “Shhh!”  The school bell rattled across the silence, releasing children into the air. Hundreds of teenagers emerged from the doors, some jogging, some walking, some parting from each other with longing eyes.  Most made their way toward the parked cars, though some did pick up bicycles from the racks or simply keep walking on the sidewalks.  The buzz and hum of their chattering voices filled the air.

                “I really don’t see what we’re doing here.”

                “Shhh!”

                Then Raven heard a little intake of breath from the lizard as three girls exited from the school.  The one was a freckled brunette, the other a rather prim-looking black girl, and the other…

                Raven blinked.  “Is that…”

                “Shhh!”

                Terra.  Terra the traitor.  Terra the former teammate who had turned on them and then died saving them.  Terra, who was supposed to be petrified in a statue beneath Jump City.  Terra, who was currently walking with two talkative teenage girls down towards the sidewalk.

                Raven said nothing as they made the group split up and made their way to different cars.  Instead, she waited until the cars drove out of sight before turning on Beast Boy.  “Okay.  Explain.”

                “What’s to explain?” grumbled Beast Boy, coming back into form.  "I sneak off sometimes to see Terra, okay?  I’m always as a different animal, they never see me, I’ve never tried to talk to her.  Happy?”

                “I meant, explain why Terra is HERE and not in her petrified state at the cavern.”

                “Oh, that.  I don’t really know, to be honest.”  Beast Boy shot a look down the road.  “I just ran into her last year, after we came back from defeating the Brotherhood.  Tried to talk to her, but she doesn’t remember anything of what happened.  Doesn’t have her powers, either.”

                “Anything?”  Raven cocked an eyebrow.

                “Anything.  Not Slade, not the Titans, not you… not me.”  Gar slumped a little.  “I spent a whole day trying to get her to remember, but at the end of it she just told me to go away.”

                Raven wasn’t sure how to respond to that.  Beast Boy’s feelings for Terra had never exactly been a secret, after all.  A part of her worried about whether Terra was faking the whole thing, but she knew better than to ask that.  She could only think of one idea.  “Have you told Robin?”

                “Yeah.  He looked into it and then told me I had to let go of it.  He’s pretty convinced she actually DOESN’T remember anything and thinks she’s better off that way.”  Beast Boy snorted a little.  “Even said she’s probably happier without her powers to set her apart.”

                “Is that… wrong?”  Raven felt inclined to agree.  Not only powers, but the memories of the old Terra wouldn’t be particularly pleasant ones to regain.

                “No, but…”  Beast  Boy sighed and cast another look down the street.  “It’s just… hard.  To let go of it, y’know?  I mean, I try not to go here, and when I do I just watch, but I can’t help but wonder sometimes.  Wonder what would happen if I just walked up to her, said hello, if it’d be different…”  He sighed again.  “It’s not easy.”

                Again Raven said nothing.  She really didn’t know how to deal with most people, let alone Gar.  Robin had been right, but simply telling Beast Boy that wouldn’t help at all.  It sounded dangerous for him to keep coming down here, especially if he kept feeling this urge to talk to her.

                The best thing to do right now was get Beast Boy away from here.  “Come on.”  She said, taking hold of his arm.  “Let’s catch lunch somewhere.”

                “Your nature is that of a connector.  A medium, as some would say.  You are uncomfortable speaking or acting for yourself, because you would rather speak and act for others.   Fascinated by the lives of others, you do not consider your own life, your own struggles, worthy of consideration, because of everything you see around you.” 

                “Most especially, you find yourself drawn to those who have no voice, those whom no one will speak for.”  The green man gestured at the comatose Naruto.  “You empathize with their loneliness and feel a great desire to bring them into connection with others.  Were you not among the first to point out to your teacher Iruka about the extended training Naruto had been going through?”

                Hinata gave a small start.  “H-how did you… I-I didn’t… I mean, I just meant to…”

                “You felt sorrow for his loneliness and wished to let others know of his life and dilemma.”  The man gave a short nod.  “Even as you hid your own life and difficulties.”

                “Hyuuga don’t…. I mean, we’re not supposed to tell…”

                “But you have never tried, or even desired to do so.  Or, for that matter, done anything to draw attention to yourself.  You do not live for yourself, you live for others.  You show your true self only when you become invisible and project another.”  A smile ghosted around the edges of the man’s thin mouth.  “It is a truly unique gift of yours.”

                Hinata’s mouth flopped open and shut, like a frightened fish gulping at air.  This man had, in a few short seconds, summed up things about herself that SHE barely knew. 

                “You are not what most would call a spiritual medium.  Your tendencies as a connector are limited solely to the physical realm.”  Again a smile ghosted about his lips.  “Or at least, they were.  Nonetheless, your spirit rendered you the most open to the kinds of gifts I wished to bestow.  Your ancestors were priests, were they not?  Therefore upon your entrance into this world, I sought you out.”

                “And you… made me do… the talk thing?”

                “Yes.”

                “And I helped Ino with it?”

                “Yes.  A slightly more difficult gift, but equally necessary.”

                “Did that… do what’s happening to her now?”

                what’s happening to her now… the thought was thankfully transient, far off.  She lost it and felt a blissful moment of being herself—it’s better with Naruto and Hinata out of the tower—before other thoughts pushed to the fore.

                The slow crawling sensations of beetles stepping tentatively across the face in the darkness… a great green blob waited at the end of a long red path, this was done for the kingdom… A new voice from the head showed the way, leant release to the burning within…  Yellowed teeth in a savage green face clawed and bit, fire beneath the skin and new thoughts without form… Bulge transformed to muscle and big bones, the children from the playground ran screaming… A cold dark cell and the endless drip drip of the hours twenty drips to the next killing…

                The thoughts crowded in her head, flooded her mind. Memories, memories, so many memories that she could not keep them all out.  Some she recognized, others shocked her, she could latch onto none for long.

                The room was dark, yet she could see everything. Flashing lights and the death smile on an eyeless father’s face and the cold steel of a cell where green fire exploded and—Ino squeezed her eyes shut and yet the images kept coming—bright white of snow about a mountain temple where the monks learned to read with three eyes, the tiny quivering pinkness of what was to be the war partner, a strange ink painting of a sad moon forest where the moons reflected off the cherry blossoms…

                And then it was gone, and for a moment Ino could be herself again.  Slowly she came to herself, a pale, emaciated girl in bed, her quivers slowly diminishing.  Grasping on the interval, she seized the food and drink next to her bed and began to ravenously devour it, unsure when the thoughts might begin flowing again.

                She felt a great ache, a throbbing against her skull as though her brain were ready to burst apart and would shatter the frail shell of bone that kept it together.  It was getting lesser already… yes, it was going.  Her mind was smaller now, she could feel nothing beyond this room.

                It was strangely easier with Hinata and Naruto out of the picture.  Why that was, she didn’t know… she had felt even Chouji and Shino that time, and she knew they were out on patrol, far beyond where she’d last felt Naruto and Hinata.  But those too had disappeared, and she no longer had the images of snarling foxes and glaring white eyes to deal with.

                Ino pressed her hands to her watering eyes and shuddered away the darkness.  This couldn’t last.  She knew this couldn’t last, she had to DO something before she exploded.  No matter if the proximity would worsen it, she had to talk to somebody NOW, while she still could.  Quickly she got up from bed and made her way toward the door.

                Lying on a metal table as a pair of pale glass eyes floated through the darkness…

                Ino tumbled to her knees.  “NO!”  She screamed.  “Not now!  I need to TALK to them!  I need to… WAIT!”

                Ripping loneliness tore at the soul as a blonde girl walked off into the dark hallway…  A sudden outburst of wounded pride as the whiskered face mouthed more words…

                “NO!  Just a bit longer!  I can’t take it!”

                Red hair and burning eyes disappeared into the bloody sand as the bones came ripping out.  Death stared from a cold mask and unforgiving steel.  Searing pain as the ink burned into the skull and fastened to the brain.  Screaming the man and woman fell from the cotton-candy trapeze to the bloodied ground of laughing faces…

                Screaming the man and woman fell from the cotton-candy trapeze to the bloodied ground of laughing faces…

                Neji suddenly stood stock-still in his training and put a hand to his head. 

                Searing pain as the ink burned into the skull and fastened onto the brain…

                Robin reeled back into reality, blinking at the screen before him. 

                Somewhere in China, an elderly shopkeeper paused and glanced sharply toward the west.

                “Dear?”  His wife eyed him quizzically.  “Is something wrong?”

                “I am not responsible for your friend Ino’s condition, nor are you.”  The man assured her.  “You have nothing to fear on that score.”

                “Then what’s… happening to her?”  Hinata demanded desperately.  “She’s not well, she stays in her room all day, and when I bring in her lunch, she just cringes away like it hurts to look at me!”

                “She is not ill, though assuredly she is not well.  But her new difficulties were not brought on by you, they were the unintended gift of another. “

                “B-but…”  Hinata gazed at the man piteously.  “Can’t you help her?”

                The man arched an eyebrow.  “That depends what you mean by ‘help.’  If you mean, remove the source of her trouble, then yes, I could do that.  But it would mean the loss of a great deal else.  Removing her difficulties would mean eliminating the source of a valuable power, negating the chance of a desirable tutorship, rendering later assimilation difficult.  It may even mean a much more costly affect on the future, causing more deaths than necessary.”

                Hinata slumped back.  “But… but… she’s hurting!  I know she is!”

                “Indeed.  At this rate, she will slowly go insane.”

                “Then why don’t you help her?”

                “As I just explained to you, I AM helping her—by not helping her.  The path that she must follow is for the moment painful, but it is also ultimately the least painful path to take.   Fear not.”  A thin smile that was evidently meant to be reassuring graced the man’s lips.  “As in everything, ’all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be made well.’”

                Hinata glanced aside to hide her disappointment.  “If… if you s-say so.  I guess.”

                “I did not say so.  Julian of Norwich said so.  And that was back in the 1300’s.”  Again the man made a thin smile.  “Fear not for your friend.  Already events are set in motion for her recovery, and she shall emerge from this trial stronger than ever before.  Indeed, this trial shall benefit you all—ninjas and heroes alike.”

                “This food is most wonderful strange, fellow non-earthling!  What do you call this marvelous pellet that you have here?”

                “Soldier pills.”  Sakura grunted, eying one of her new concoctions.  “They’re not food, though, Star.  They’re supposed to be used in emergencies only.  What do you call this food here?”

                “Oh!  This is the hamburger, which friend Cyborg so enjoys!  I thought it would be to your liking, so I prepared a few for you and your friend!”  Happily the Tamaranian dropped the platters onto the table.  “I offer my sorrows that I am unable to perform the grill as well as friend Cyborg, but I have done the best I can with my own energy bolt powers.”

                Sakura eyed the blackened meat dubiously, hoping that the glowing bits of green in the meat were her imagination.

                “I am so glad that you are able to join me for my mid-day repast.”  Starfire beamed.  “Ordinarily, Robin would accompany me, but alas, he is occupied.  And though I am sorrowful that you cannot spar with friend Naruto as you desired, friend Lee, I hope that you will enjoy this meal!  And you also, friend Sakura!”

                Sakura tried to rouse appropriate words of gratitude but her honesty forbid her.  Fortunately, Lee was there to provide the thanks she could not offer.  “Yosh!  Many thanks, friend Starfire!  This most youthful dish seems to be both nutritious and enlivening!”  Crunching a patty between his jaws, he barely suppressed a wince.  “And delicious!”

                “Oh!”  Starfire’s eyes lit up.  “Then I shall make you ten more, friend Lee!”

                “Many thanks, Starfire-san!”  Lee gave a valiant thumbs-up, continuing his attack on the hamburger.  “This meal is most certainly strengthening to the jaws and challenging to the teeth!  I shall eat all ten of your next burgers, and if I cannot do that, I shall…”

                “Lee.”  Sakura sighed.  “Let it go.”

                Something in the way she said it made Lee take a closer look at her.  “You are not… feeling well, Sakura-san?”

                “No.  I mean yes.”  Sakura rubbed a free hand over her face.  “It’s just… things haven’t been working out lately.”

                “Friend Sakura is troubled?”  Starfire flew up to the table and eyed the pink-haired girl compassionately.  “You must tell us what the cause is, friend Sakura!  Are you also troubled about friend Ino?”

                Lee bit his lip and considered a moment.  “Perhaps you and Naruto…”

                “No,” replied Sakura, barely suppressing a groan.  Just what she needed.  A reminder of two other things she really didn’t want to think about right now.  “No, nothing  like that.  I mean, that too, but…”  Sighing, she rolled the pellets across the table toward them.  “It’s these things.”

                “The pills of soldier?  But friend Sakura, they are most delicious!”

                “And they fortify the body with all the needful nutrients!”

                “That’s not the POINT.”  Sakura offered her two friends a wry grin.  “They’re supposed to renew the body’s chakra.  The nutrients stuff helps, but delicious…”  She stopped suddenly and stared at Starfire.  “You seriously think these things are tasty?”

                “Of course, friend Sakura!”  Starfire’s head bobbed up and down.  “They taste much like the Chugogon Beetles of Workthal!”

                Deciding not to pursue that thought, Sakura returned her attention to the table.  “Anyway, the point is that that’s not what they’re doing.  I exhausted all my chakra today in training exercises, and then I took one and…” she sighed.  “I still don’t have any chakra.  My nutrients are back up, my brain is alert, everything else is fine, but chakra… nothing. Or at least, very little.”

                “That is indeed most curious, friend Sakura.”  Starfire floated over and palmed one of the pills. 

                “Perhaps you have not added the proper ingredients?”  Lee ventured, also picking up one of the pellets.

                Sakura shook her head.  “I followed the same recipe I always do.  Same herbs, same mixture, same concentration, same preparation.  I practically have that recipe memorized by now.”  Frowning in concentration, she added, “I’m working on a new recipe… maybe that will have more effect.”

                “I have the utmost confidence in your ability, Sakura-san.”  Lee gave an earnest nod.  “And in the meantime, I shall train without chakra, to…”  he paused as he realized that he already did that.  “I shall train harder.”  He resolved.

                “You do that, Lee.”  Sakura offered the chunin a wan smile.

                Starfire frowned.  “I do not know what I can do to help, but I shall speak to friend Robin and see if he has any advice.”  A new idea lit up her face.  “And I shall cook you meals and deliver them to your room so you may concentrate!”

                Leaning onto the table, Sakura just managed to bite back a groan.

“Now.  To return to our purpose, I believe you wish to know about your powers.”

                “N-not really.”

                The man seemed intrigued.  “I’m sorry?”

                “I d-don’t r-really care about what… p-POWERS you gave me.  I just really came here to see if you could help Ino.”

                “Ah.  Again, you are a connector.  You find your purpose in others.  Most excellent.  But are you sure that was the only reason?”

                Hinata struggled a moment.  “I g-guess… I was kind of curious.”

                “Of course you were.”  The man leaned back.  “You should understand, angelic power is not like some sharply delineated set of abilities granted to you for whenever you desire.  Angelic power is simply power, given with conditions but not formulas.  I suppose a good example would be your chakra, which is not strictly limited to any one technique, but can be used for many different purposes.  But even chakra is simply a portion of true spiritual power.”

                Hinata glanced at him, eyes wide.

                “Indeed.”  He nodded.  “You begin to understand, do you not?  The “spiritual energy” of is a fragmented echo, a faded section of true spiritual power.  The Kyuubi’s chakra is perhaps closer, yet even it is fragmented and distorted.  You have noticed, have you not, that the chakra of the Kyuubi is distinct from those of others?”

                Hinata slowly nodded.  “Y-yes.  It’s… orange.  But that’s because it’s not normal chakra.”

                “Indeed not.  Its origin is utterly different than your own.  But…”  the man tilted his head in resignation, “…that is a discussion for another time.  For now, it is enough to understand that the power I gave you is capable of things far beyond that of chakra.”  His look somehow grew even more intense.  “You should understand also, though, that it cannot always be used, as chakra can.  You may use your new abilities only if I wish it, and should you trespass the Nazirite Precepts, I may take it away entirely.  At times I may even take control to act through you.”

                “L-like…” Hinata hesitated.  “l-like a host?  For an angel?”

                “Nothing so crude,” snorted Spectre.  “I may only take control if you allow me to, and you may cut it off at any point.  However, you shall have little consciousness of your own actions and shall be mostly as a spectator in the event.”

                “O-okay… I guess.”  Hinata glanced down at her fingers and toyed with the end of her napkin.  “S-so… what can I do… just by myself?”

                “The Tongue of Fire is itself a very useful gift.  Do not misjudge it.  It will enable you to tell always exactly what a person intends to say and whether they are telling the truth.  It will also allow you to make yourself perfectly understood, though you may find it difficult to lie.”  A quiver touched the corners of Spectre’s mouth.  “You can use your words to soothe the fearful, to enliven the weary, to heal the broken-hearted.  The power of the Second Presence, which you also command, will do much the same through your surroundings—you can calm the troubled merely by being beside them.”

                “Outside of that, much of the power will form naturally.  Already you have become more alert, more attentive.  The doings of the higher plain are now open to you, you can behold the workings of the ghosts and demons.  Your reaction time is faster, you have greater endurance.  Your power DOES grant you abilities beyond that of normal chakra, which you shall learn as you need them.”

                “What… what kind of abilities?”

                Spectre shrugged.  “The same as any angel’s, though you do not have the power to perform all the functions.  You could, for instance, rip a soul from a body and send it into the eternal fire, but the exertion would probably kill you.  What else will follow, I cannot say.”  Spectre stood from the table.  “Suffice it to know that your powers will be greatest in the area of your greatest talent—that of a connector.”

                “Now.”  He gestured out the window.  “You have visitors.”

                Hinata glanced to the side.  To her left, she saw the man from the roof, looking very startled.  To her right, she saw Raven and Beast Boy heading toward the restaurant.

                Beast Boy drew back suddenly as Raven reared back and started screaming.  “Father!”  She screamed.  “Father, what are you doing to me?  I cannot hear the…  Oh my father, be silent!”

                “Raven?”  Beast Boy stooped over her as she crumpled to the ground.  “Raven, you okay?  Hey, stay with me Raven!”

                “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb…”  Raven murmured deliriously, her eyes gazing at the pavement.  “…Fear the Lord and give glory unto him for the hour of his judgment is at hand…”

                “Raven!”  Beast Boy’s hand flew to his communicator.  “Robin, we got trouble!”

                Static was his only response.

                “I’m not sure it’s a real problem just yet.”  Robin shrugged at the monitor.  “Mostly I just called to see if it was from the League.”

                Terrific shook his head from the monitor. “J’onn’s off in meditation, he’s not supposed to be sending anything out.  And none of our other telepaths have reported anything.”  He tapped his chin.  “Maybe there’s a new meta forming in your area.  Have you checked for any industrial accidents in the nearby area?  Or unlicensed experimental research?”

                “If it was unlicensed, I’d hardly know about it, would I?”

                “True.”  Terrific frowned.  “Still, you might want to follow up on that.  You sure it was somebody’s memory you saw?”

                Robin nodded.  “It was one the ninjas… Neji.  I saw the memory of them burning the symbol into his forehead.  Just got off the intercom with him, he said he got a flash of what sounds like something from my memories.”

                “Odd.  Maybe he’s the telepath.  Or you are.  Has Bats been trying out anything with you?”

                “No.”  Robin shook his head.  “And Neji has no idea what happened either.”

                With a shrug of his shoulders, Terrific replied, “I’ll take it up with J’onn next time I see him.  Anything else?”

                “Just one.”  Robin frowned.  “One of the ninjas seems to be very sick, she just collapsed in her room.  I’m going upstairs to check on her now—it’s probably nothing serious—but just so the League knows.”

                “Very good.  I’ll bring Superman up to speed—and Batman, if he calls.”

                A snort exploded from Robin.  “Don’t bother.  Batman probably has this call taped.  Robin out.”  He clicked the screen off and moved toward the door.  Though he hadn’t mentioned as much to Mr. Terrific, he rather suspected a link between Ino’s collapse and his strange ‘memory flash.’  It was rather fortunate he’d been in the control room when the incident occurred—he might never have connected it with Ino’s condition otherwise.

                Of course, there might BE no connection, and the two events might just be random coincidence.  But just in case… Robin moved toward the elevator.

                Hinata’s hand flew to her mouth as she watched the Titan collapse to the pavement.  Almost without thinking, she leapt from the booth, completely missing Naruto’s “Huh?  Hinata?”  She didn’t know where Spectre had disappeared to, but right now it didn’t matter.  Out the door she ran, straight over to the pale girl and her green companion.  “What’s the matter with her?”  She panted.

                “Hinata?”  Beast Boy blinked up at her, uncomprehending.  “What’re you…”

                “WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH HER!?”

                “I… I don’t know!”  Beast Boy glanced back down at the quivering girl.  “We were just going to get lunch and all of a sudden she falls over and starts reciting all this mumbo jumbo stuff…”

                “Guys?  What’s going on here?”  Naruto jogged up, his face a study in confusion.

                “Naruto?  You’re here too?

                Hinata ignored both the boys, and instead leant forward toward Raven.  With it you may use your words to soothe the fearful… she heard a whisper in the back of her mind, and even as she opened her mouth to speak she felt power flood into her mind.

                “Raven.”

                A pale face jerked up to meet hers, eyes wide.  “…the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…”

                “Raven, we’re here.  We’re with you.  You’re alright.”

                “But if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies…”  Raven’s face twitched slightly, her words were slowing.  “And any who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

                “Do not fear, I am with you, do not be dismayed.”  The words flowed into her mind, they almost spoke themselves.  “I will strengthen you and help you, and uphold you by my hand.”

                “I… I…”  Raven’s breathing began to come normally, her eyes became more weary than frightened.  “I have seen the wrath of the coming of the…”

                “Shhh.”  Hinata whispered, drawing the frightened girl into a hug.  “You have nothing to fear.  Fear will be removed from you, terror will not come near you.”

                Raven hid her face in Hinata’s jacket. 

                “Whoah.”  Beast Boy gazed in shock at the two girls.  “How’d you… what just…”  he glanced to Naruto.  “What the heck just happened?”

                Naruto scratched his head.  “Umm… I don’t… really know… what did you just do, Hinata?”

                “Nothing important,” replied Hinata, slowly moving Raven’s head away from her.  “Here.  Are you doing alright now?”

                “I… I… yes.”  Raven drew away from the Hyuuga.  “Yes, I’m… I’m fine.  Thank you.”  Quickly she stood up and smoothed her robes, obviously discomfited.  “I’m sorry, I just… Trigon was… I’ve never felt him act like that before.  It won’t happen again.”

                The others did not look so sure.  “We’d better get back to the Tower.”  Beast Boy suggested, moving a step closer to her.  “Robin will be wondering what we all are doing.”

                Robin glanced about him momentarily as he entered the dark hallway.  Though the security systems had long been recalibrated and brought up to specs, nothing was impassable, and the telepathic flash he’d had made him wary of a possible attack.  Psychics always left him nervous, there was really no way to deal with them, outside of the mind tricks Bruce had taught him.

                Quickly he strode toward the blank door that marked Ino’s room.  Ino had specially requested a room in a nearly-deserted portion of the Tower, an arrangement all had thought curious, especially given her apparent illness.  It’d been hard to deny her anything, though, when her suffering stood so clearly in her face.  Cyborg had added a few extra security measures in this hallway, as a means to keep her safe while separated from the others, but they’d let her had her privacy.  Sai came up three times a day to bring her meals, and Sakura at least once to do a medical diagnosis, but other than that none of the Titans came up here much.

                Outside the door, he paused and rapped on the metal with his knuckles.  “Ino?  This is Robin.  May I come in?”

                He gave her a few moments to reply.  She might be unconscious, after…

                “AAAAAGHGAHHHHH!”

                The scream pierced the door, it exploded into the hallway and rebounded off the dark gleaming metal walls.  Robin leapt back, poised to fend off an attack, but all that met him was the blank metal door, cold and gleaming.

                “No, NO!”  The voice screamed, and Robin was only distantly able to recognize it as Ino’s.  “They’re back, they’re back, I can feel them… I feel their… AGH!”

                Glowing orange fur of the circus of the white-eyed clowns and round and round the cobbler’s bench the villagers chased the Kyuubi that the host thought was all in the fun of the trapeze with the pop-pop-pop of the bone-crunching candy-corn of eyes that met the teeth in the cacophony of raised green lanterns…

                Robin stumbled, his mind reeling.  That had been no memory.  That had been… well, he didn’t know what it was, but it had confirmed his theory.  He needed to contact the League, immediately.  Quickly he turned down the hallway…

                The monkey-king’s bubble pipe of the lost city of the Green Gorillas where the shadows came to fly over the boiling darkness…

                Robin’s foot tripped, he fell to the floor, it came rushing to him…

                Strong like day and kind like night the party against the darkness of a blood red city where the streets are paved with time and the hungry ghost brings the life to teeth of wandering toad acrobats…

                He was crawling now, he could see the elevator before him, it was floundering in a haze of clouds and colors, animals…

                Tinker tailor soldier sparrow the clock ticked over the stone faces that overlooked the moon within the swallowing belly of the great black fire where the eight birds flew and the…

                Robin was gone.

Chapter Text

…can’t move  can’t move can’t move hard floor cold like the glass of eyes that float into the circus about the sisters of football players  the room is dark and the floor cold cold cold against the people approaching up the shaft of the monkey staff for the snake and the robin redbreast have you any wool stopstopstop sorry sorry so sorrrry I didn’t mean oh felt so good bubble of mind open two more coming NO must not must not let them come hold out and scream help help for the orange eyes in the green face that opened up the basement and here they come…

                “Here he is.”  Cyborg jogged up to the prone form on the ground.  “Thought he was in the control room, went to ask him about the power panels and saw him on the screen.  First thing I did was to contact everyone and put the Tower on alert.”

                Starfire was already by Robin’s side.  “Who could have defeated friend Robin in such a manner?  He has no wounds or markings of any kind!”

                “No signs of a battle in the hallway either.”  Cyborg glanced up and down the hallway.  “From the looks of things he was making for the elevator… he got anything on his neck?  A bruise, puncture wound, anything?”

                “Nothing.”  Starfire turned Robin over to show him.

                “Hm.”  Cyborg fingered his faceplate nervously.  “This isn’t good.  Robin’s no pushover, and certainly not one to be taken by surprise.  All this being in the tower just makes it worse.”  Apparently coming to a decision, he tapped a few keys on the his wristpad.  “I’m putting this hallway on complete lockdown.  Robots, laser guns, everything on full alert.  Nobody enters unless I say.  In the meantime we oughta regroup, so I’m calling everybody back to the tower, including that nighttime patrol we just sent out.”  He closed the pad with a nod of satisfaction.  “Then we’ll get working on what’s going on here.  Star, can you help me get Robin to the medical bay?  We’ll have that Sakura working on him as soon as we can.”

                “I shall take him to the medical bay with the post of haste, friend Cyborg!”  Nodding anxiously, Starfire easily lifted Robin and flew him to the elevator.  Cyborg remained a few moments later, clicking some buttons on the wall, before joining her in the elevator.  Once inside, he opened his keypad and pressed one final button.

                A slab of thick armor plating slid in front of the elevator with a clang.

                Slowly the elevator began to descend.  “That should cut it off from the rest of the building.”  Cyborg explained.   “If whatever attacked Robin is still there, it won’t be able to get in or out.”

                Starfire blinked at him as they exited  the elevator.  “But what about friend Ino?”

                “Who?”

                “Friend Ino.  She has a room up there.”

                “Oh yeah.”  Cyborg frowned.  “Shoot.  I’d better lock her room off too until we figure out where this guy is.  You take Robin down yourself, I’d better get to the control room.”

                “Gladly, friend Cyborg!”  Starfire flew off down the hallway and over the stairs, whipping in a door cheerily labeled ‘Medical Ward.’  Gently, she lowered herself to the ground and laid Robin down on a clean white bed.  “Rest please, Robin.”  She whispered.  “I will go seek friend Sakura.”

                As she turned to go, Robin’s hand shot out and snatched hold of her arm.  “W-wait.”  Robin’s eyes were wide open, he was trembling all over, and his words gritted through clenched teeth.  “St-star… you have… you have to…”

                “What is it, Robin?”  Starfire bent over him anxiously.  She’d never seen Robin like this before.

                A shudder shook all through Robin and his grip on her tightened.  “You have to… contact League… the Manhunter… he must…”  Another shudder shook through him, his back arching slightly and his eyes tightly clenched.  “You need…  get everyone out of here, Star…”  His eyes took on new purpose at the thought.  “Get… get them away from her… all the thoughts… all at once…”  His eyes began to get glazed.  “Get away… get away… It’s not… It’s not…”

                “It’s not what, Robin?”  In her anxiety to hear better, Star leaned over Robin’s trembling form.  She pressed a hand to his hot forehead.

                Burning and the burning burning burning burning of the children in the shadows of the caverns where the howling doom patrol ran around the mulberry bush…

                Starfire gasped, she recoiled a little…

                Another mind oh so good so sorry sorry The gargoyle of the cotton-candy crocodiles fought the stick figures off with a beetle while the creeping deer cavorted amidst the blacksmith’s fan gorillas fed the cherry blossoms to the howling dogs of the and the stone faces stared down in all their righteous indignation…

                The images swirled into her head, the thoughts, the sensations flooded her consciousness.  They blocked out the room, the ward,Robin, everything.  Everything was becoming lost in the great swirl of memories.

                And the turning turning turning all my soul within me burning puppies of the great white-eyed cat-o-nine tails that lay lashing against the laughing children of the playground and their big-boned ribbing sorry sorry but oh so good the bubble pops the sun rose over the land of the churning ink that shaped line on paper release good release relieves couldn’t hold it in and brought the kunai spinning through flesh and candy sticks…

                “Robin sent us that moments before he disappeared.”  Terrific clicked off the screen and turned to the others—Green Lantern and Superman, who stood directly behind him.  “He mentioned something about a psychic flash, but none of our documented psychics are near that area.”

                “So you believe it’s a new psychic.”  Green Lantern frowned in thought.

                “Robin’s description of the episode sounded more like an accidental connection than a malevolent attack,” shrugged Terrific.  “The psychic MIGHT not be very adept at attacking, or they might not be attacking at all.”

                Superman nodded.  “Seems likely enough.  Any suspicions?”

                “The white-eyed girl.  She seems to have certain propensity toward psychic energies, and her companions have testified that she’s suddenly obtained some new abilities.  It seems that if the telepathic attack came from an outsider, it would have been noticed by the delusional psychic energy we contacted.”

                “The what?”  Green Lantern wrinkled his nose in confusion.

                “Deadman, the ghost who helped us with the Gorilla City matter.”  Superman explained.  “We have him observing the Titans.”

                “Of course, perhaps I should not rely on that so much.”  Terrific considered.  “A delusional entity has, by nature, a skewed interpretation of events.  Simply thinking that it is a ghost colors its observations and makes them biased at best.”

“What’s your problem with ghosts, anyway?” asked Superman suddenly, turning on Mr. Terrific. 

                “Can’t have a problem with something that doesn’t exist.  My problem is with people who believe in ghosts.  And demons, angels, and gods.  But at the moment… ghosts.”

                “Terrific, we spoke with one just this afternoon.”

                “No, we were just talking with something that claimed to be one.  Rather different.”

                “Well, okay, why don’t we believe him?”

                “It.  As an entity, it possesses no real orientation, merely a perceived residual pattern from its former occupant.  And we don’t believe it because ghosts don’t exist.  A ghost implies a soul, which implies an afterlife.  Which doesn’t exist.”

                Green Lantern let out a sudden snort.  “After all, it’s not like any of us has ever been to Hades or something.”

                Mr. Terrific sighed.  “You visited a region that a group of isolated zealots considered to be a resting place for the damned.  In that region, you—or rather, Wonder Woman—encountered extra-dimensional beings and magically retained consciousnesses, but no actual souls of anyone dead that you knew.  You merely supposed it to be some kind of afterlife.”

                “And you don’t think it was.”

                “No.  Superman, Darkseid is supposed to be a god on his homeworld.  So are Highfather and Orion.  Yet we know them to simply be extremely powerful aliens enhanced by advanced technology.  The extra-dimensional being Ichthultu, whom you and Hawkgirl defeated, was worshipped as a god by both the Thanagarians and some of the Atlanteans.  What makes you think that the gods, demons, and ghosts WE know aren’t simply variations on this idea—ultra powerful entities that we simply do not fully understand?”

                Green Lantern shrugged.  “Is this really all that important?  I don’t quite see that there’s a difference.”

                “Of course there is.”  Superman threw an annoyed glance at his friend.

                “Agreed.”  Terrific nodded.  “A true god should be above the laws of the universe, otherwise he is simply another creature of the universe—mortal, limited, fallible.”

                “But if he DIDN’T operate according to the rules of the universe…”  Superman raised an eyebrow at the scientist, “…we never would be able to understand him anyway.”

                Mr. Terrific rolled his eyes.  “Supes, just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s magical, or even spiritual.  None of us are even close to understanding how J’onn’s powers work, but nobody assumes he’s a god.”

                “Because he has obvious limitations.”

                “So do ghosts.  But we label them as supernatural, and J’onn as superhuman.  An important distinction.  The only real difference is that we know J’onn’s origin.  Since we know he came from Mars, we assume that instead of being a god, he must be an alien.”  Terrific snorted.  “One wonders how much of a distinction that is.”

                “This is fun and all, but we’re kinda missing the point.”  Green Lantern cut in, annoyed.  “Much as I love to hear you guys discuss metaphysics, we’ve got a group of teenagers in Jump City with an incapacitated leader and a possible psychic attacker.  Now what are we going to do about it?”

                Superman sighed.  “Right.  Well, the Titans still aren’t accepting help from us, so we’d better just sit back and monitor the situation.  Inform Batman about his ward—assuming he doesn’t already know—and see if you can get J’onn out of the meditation chamber to ask him about this telepath thing.”

                “J’onn’s not  in the meditation chamber.”  Green Lantern informed him.

                “He’s not?”

                “He left to go ‘home’ the day you appointed him to do research.”  Green Lantern shrugged.  “For all I know, he could be on Mars by now.”

                Another mind another mind release sweet release the Kraken think as myself sorry so sorry I had to I’ll stop soon but OH the memories flooding like a wave of synaptic fluid through the tropic of candy-corn now more memories can’t stop them the sisters of the bats fly across the green sky edged in mahogany clocks with the ticking ticking happy glorthag need to find outlet outlet outlet ACDC  nightwing nitewing need to find outlet another mind another…

                “A lockdown?”  Sai frowned as he made his way down the stairs.  “For what reason?  Our last patrol was revealed nothing out there.”

                “Yeah, but there’s something in here.”  Cyborg’s voice sounded from his earpiece.

                “Ah, an infiltrator.”  Sai’s eyes narrowed.  “I see.” 

“Yeah, and that’s a big problem.  Hinata’s on the roof, ready to receive the patrol team, I just need you to watch the door and check people in.  Once we’ve got everybody in, we can lock the place down completely and get to work on finding them.”

“Very well.”  Sai nodded.  “I shall mount guard here, then.  Have you asked Hinata or Neji to scan the building with their Byakugan?  Otherwise, once Naruto returns he can probably also use his Sage Mode to find the intruder.”

The silence from the other side of the line was rather telling.  Finally, there came: “Riiight.  That’s a good idea, I’ll get right on that.”

“Naruto may not be so helpful,” warned Sai, suppressing a smirk.  “His ability is more centered around chakra signatures, which the intruder may not have.”

“I guess not.”  Cyborg’s voice sounded a little more irritated now.  “Still, we’ll try it.  Maybe one of your dimensional friends has popped up.  Cyborg out.” 

The speaker clicked out and Sai withdrew his hand from his ear with a sigh.  Momentarily he considered the possibility that this was a trap of some kind—bringing all the ninjas back to a base about to be locked up—but he discarded the notion.  The story sounded plausible enough, and Cyborg certainly didn’t seem to have an elaborate cover story thought out.  Besides, any decent tactician (which Robin certainly was, even if Cyborg was not), would know better than to bring all the ninjas together BEFORE destroying them.  It would be far better to hunt them down one by one.

Sai shook his head.  So many different levels of intrigue to consider.  An assumed infiltrator.  A possible trap.  An extremely likely genjutsu.  If the infiltrator existed, it might be an outsider or a disgruntled ninja.  Sakura was the only possible option.  If the infiltrator did not exist, it was almost certainly a trap of some kind.  Shino would know, though… he had planted bugs on all the Titans and would have their positions monitored.  And Neji, of course, would be doing his occasional scans.  Naruto could perhaps be taken by surprise, but Sai doubted that it would be enough of an advantage.

And finally, what was the purpose of the genjutsu in proposing such a dilemma to begin with?  To make him trust outsiders?  Or, conversely, to make him distrust his teammates abilities?  Perhaps give him an outside danger to focus on so he would not notice the genjutsu?

So many levels.  So many levels.

Something caught the corner of his eye and he whipped around, sword at the ready.  “Show yourself.”  He demanded calmly, his left hand fingering a kunai.

A small green dog trotted out from the bush and glanced up at him quizzically.

Sai relaxed his sword arm.  “You received the message too, I see.”  The dog gave a humorously grave nod.  “Very well.  Cyborg is in the control room, you should go see him.  I must stay and guard the door.”  As the dog trotted past him, Sai touched his earpiece and spoke, “Beast Boy is in the Tower.”

“Yeah, I know.”  Cyborg’s voice still sounded a little irritated.  “Thanks for the report.”

With a shrug, Sai clicked the radio off and resumed his study of the skyline.  He still had many other levels to consider.

                …hold back hold back not another hear the tolling of the bells it tolls for thee like the garlic beneath the ox-cart of the T-car and the old drunken circus master of the killing circle vengeance must be had a mind a dog on bottom level can’t touch too slippery but Sai NO stay back stay back don’t touch the glass case the bubbles bubbles floating in their rainbow fragility every mind a bubble find a bubble fragile bubble watch them pop and flow their synaptic fluid into the great melting pot…

                “No, she’s never acted like that before.”  Beast Boy assured Sakura, bending over Raven’s bed anxiously.  “It was really bizarre, she just keeled over and started shouting…”

                “Look, I said I’m fine,” fumed Raven, trying to glare at Beast Boy and Sakura at the same time.

                Sakura simply glared back.  “Falling over in the street and lapsing into hallucinatory delirious episodes is NOT fine.  At the very least, you need to take some rest.  I would also prescribe lots of fluids.”

                “I’ve been resting in my room for the last five days.  And my fluids are FINE.”  Raven insisted.  “If anything, I should move about more.”

                “That’s true.”   For a moment Sakura considered her options.  “Very well.  Daily exercise, preferably under controlled conditions.  I’ll talk to Robin about maybe relaxing your patrols…”

                “I’m FINE.”

                “Who’s the doctor here?  You’ll relax.  And drink fluids.”  Something beeped in Sakura’s earpiece and she sighed. “Yes, Cyborg, I’m going.  Gar, make sure she stays there.”  She disappeared out the door.

                Raven turned a dangerous eye onto Beast Boy.  “If you’re thinking you’re keeping me ANYwhere…”

                “She said it, not me!” whined Beast Boy, backing away frantically.  “I just called her in for a check up, I had NO idea, I swear!”

                Raven snorted but said nothing.  The brief silence was broken, predictably, by Beast Boy.  “So… if you’re really okay… what was with the whole… hallucination desultory thing?”

                “I told you already.”  Raven threw him an irritable glance.  “My father went nuts.  He was screaming, raging, just… nothing like I’ve ever felt.”

                Beast Boy frowned.  “I didn’t know you had that good a connection with your father.”

                “Historically, I didn’t.”  Raven shrugged.  “But things changed after I banished him.”

                “You mean during that whole end-of-the-world deal?” 

                Raven gave a short nod.  “Banishing just means I removed him elsewhere.  He’s not dead, just expelled.  He won’t be back—not anytime soon, anyway—and it’s harder for him to dominate me.  But I can hear his voice a lot clearer than I used to.”

                “Really?”  Beast Boy cocked his head.  “What’s he saying right now?”

                “That you’re a hormone-obsessed moron who needs to leave my room.”  Raven glared.  “Also…”

                …the laughing horned faces burned from the cavern of blued steel where the green beetles crawled over the pop-eyes of destiny and the one in the middle had a railroad track…

                Beast Boy stumbled backwards.  “Jeez, Raven when I asked what he was saying, I meant TELL me!  When did you learn to do that?”

                “That wasn’t me.”  Raven was glancing around with a strange look on her face.  “And it wasn’t Trigon.  I think…”

                …the little engine went chug chug down the pineapple milk and the shadows curved about the bright red and green of the officer’s pistol where the cells were as big as trees and the lizards went skittering across the skull-laden landscape of the…

                Vaguely Beast Boy realized he was on the floor, his green skin rapidly shifting from one form to the other.  He couldn’t focus, he couldn’t… “Raaaay—veeeeh—nnnrgh?”

                …once upon a midnight dreary hickory dickory the gorilla ran up the baseball bat with the flying monkeys and the eyes came floating toward the darkness repairs are not complete poor wayfaring stranger in a strange land the touch of lips and the flow of knowledge too many thoughts…

                “Way too much going on, if you ask me,” grumbled Naruto as the four ninjas raced across the rooftops.  The glowing lights of Jump City flashed beneath them as they shot toward the island and the tower.  “First patrol they send us out without one of their Titan people along, and after five minutes they call us back.  What the heck?”

                Neji shrugged.  “Perhaps it had something to do with that fire hydrant you smashed.”

                “Dude, compared to some of the stuff that normally goes down at these things, that’s nothing.”  Naruto snorted, throwing a disgusted look  over his shoulder.  “I bet it wasn’t even reported.”

                Another shrug.  “It might be, if Robin was keeping an abnormally close eye on us.  Understandable, seeing as it would be our first solo patrol.”

                A snort of annoyance came from Kiba below.  “Not by half.  I really wish they’d stop with the babysitting.  I mean, for crying out loud, we’re chunins!  Capable ninjas!  They’re no better at fighting than we are, heck, on a lot of things, we’re a good deal better!”

                “Fighting is not the issue.”  Neji insisted.  “Familiarity is.”

                “Yeah.”  That was Chouji.  “Most of the civilians are only getting used to us, a lot of them still mistake us for supervillians.  And we’re still out of most of the things here ourselves… I mean, that fight last week with the Johnny Rancid guy…”

                “Hey, don’t try blaming us for that.  You were the one who launched the fireball at his motorcycle.”

                “Well would you have known that would make it blow up like that?”

                Kiba considered a moment.  “I… might have.”

                “No, you would not.  None of us would have guessed it.”  Neji gave a sniff that just barely escaped being a snort.  “That is Chouji’s point.  We are still ignorant of many of the rules and dangers of this world.  That is why we began work with these Titans and that is why we still work with them.  Because, for the moment, they have information we need.”

                Annoyance mollified a little, Naruto gave a shamefaced shrug.  “I’m just wishing that they’d stop treating us like kids, that’s all.”  They were now skimming across the water, vast plumes shooting up behind them.  “Sometimes I get the feeling that Robin kid thinks I’m an idiot or something.”

                Kiba gave a loud snort but said nothing.

                “You forget that, in this world, we are children.  Idiotic, untested children.”  Neji reminded them.  They were now shooting up the tower’s smooth glass face.  “And as such, we need all the help we can get.”

                “Yeah, but… Hey Hinata!”

                The group dropped before a rather nervous Hyuuga, who fumbled nervously with her fingers.  “Y-you didn’t have to run up h-here, you know.  Y-you could h-have just gone in the d-door by Sai.”

                “Oh right.”  Naruto frowned.  “Got a point there.”

                “This is where we’re usually called to report, though,” noted Neji  “Where is Robin?  He’s usually here waiting for us.”

                A shadow passed over Hinata’s face.  “W-we h-have a p-problem.”

Four more four more ohnoohnoohno too much Feet that crawl over the screaming city eyes that bawl and leak blood to the green dogs and where o where has my little Sharingan red eyes in the vampire’s gullet who stands next to the grandfather clock in the doctor’s spaceship grapefruit juice sounds odd to the soldiers follow worse than scum or if not we cannot love you hopeless in the void the picture shatters in the falling blood of leaves…

                “Thanks Hinata.  You say they’re all here?  Bring them in immediately and I’ll lock up the building.”  Cyborg began to type a code into the computer.  “Oh, and do you or Neji see anything unusual?  You’re sure?  Okay, thanks.”  He pressed another button.  “Sai?  Come in, we’ve got everyone here.  I’m locking the doors.”  Flipping a few more switches, he muttered, “Don’t know why Star hasn’t come back yet.”

                “Cyborg?”  Sakura’s face filled the viewscreen.  “I thought you said Robin was the only one that needed attention.”

                “He is.”  Absentmindedly Cyborg entered the rest of the lockdown code and paused, hand wavering over the switch.  “Why?”

                “Well… Star’s here with him, and she looks pretty catatonic too.”

                “What?”  Cyborg’s mind processed the data rapidly, collected it, and compiled.  “Stay where you are.”  He ordered.  “I’m locking down the tower now, I’ll lock off your section specially.  The infiltrator’s probably there.  If we can…”

                He broke off as a small green dog trotted in the door.  “Gar?  What are you doing here?”

                So many minds thoughts thinking bubbles floating in the green bubblegum skies where the foxes flew beside the dancing ladies bubble minds each a mind so fragile and full of thoughts…

                “Do they know yet who hit Robin?”  Naruto asked as the door slammed shut behind them.

                “N-no.”  Hinata shook her head.  “Th-they have no idea.  C-cyborg w-wants to lock down the facility until he knows.”

                “Makes sense.”   Chouji shrugged.

                …minds all minds could break bubbles release sweet release be not proud though some have called thee Kyuubi and the flying through the skies on wings of happiness and vengeance over the sugar-cane fields of crawling bubbles of minds so many thoughts all together…

                Sai frowned in thought as the door swung shut.  For some reason this still seemed like a bad idea to him.  Still, no sign of treachery yet.

                …minds all confusing broken apart like a clay potter vessel given to a beetle of green girth and statute should put back together break the bubbles and pour fuel into one great coherent thought I’m thinking how odd I haven’t been able bubbles bubbles…

                “Sure, just lock me in the infirmary with whatever psycho who might happen to be around here.”  Sakura grumbled as she adjusted Starfire on a bed of her own.  “Why not?  It’s not like the infirmary is a crucial place or anything, or like Robin or I am anybody important .  While you’re at it, why don’t you just break off in mid-sentence and leave me hanging, Cyborg?”  Sighing, she  fluffed up the Tamaranian’s pillow and slid it under her head.  “Guess I’m on my own, then.  Suppose I see…”

                …drip drip drip little April showers bring may pilgrims to the planet of Tasmania where the devils burrow through the sea and scream their shaded rage to the acknowledged world of bubblegum and ice cream..

                “Chouji-kun!”  the gasp just barely pulled Chouji out of the world of swirling images.  He caught himself against the wall, braced up into a standing position and tried to smile reassuringly at Hinata.  Vaguely he caught sight of the others twitching on the floor

                “Chouji-kun!  Are you alright?”  Hinata seemed to be having difficulty also, but her words made things easier.  He attempted to answer…

                …the trains of the wolves go ever faithful to the circus of the bubbling synaptic pot where all the minds go to join in one the water of life as worms go crawlingsquirmingsqueezing through the sky ceiling circle the infared light shows all minds in their proper place but set together in ultimate understanding…

                Shino, head swimming, pressed his fingers to his head.  A genjutsu, a genjutsu, he reminded himself, trying to push the thoughts away.  My allies should…

                A fresh set of images swarmed into his head and he reared back with an inarticulate cry.

                …believe it is peace in our village the eyes always watching the caged gorilla of the cosmic scarecrows ho ho how many nuts could a nutcracker crack if the cracker could nut olives? green delicious pistachio beetles…

                Through the gathering blackness Neji heard a snarl and a startled gasp.  “Naruto-kun!”

                …all minds the collective species of the ring and the hidden leaves of the wolves who go to and fro amidst the daffodils that float on clouds like candy-cotton eyes…

                “When did this begin?”  Shikamaru distantly heard a voice snapping. 

                “Just now.  He’d been perfectly normal then suddenly started thrashing…”

                …and the flashing flashing flashing of a demon that is dashing through the cancophany of lashing little whips that turn to weeds in a sea of bubbles hear the little poppopop of minds meeting…

                Sasuke fell to the floor, he rolled about, clutching his temples fervently.  “Get out.”  He muttered.  “Getoutgetoutgetout GET OUT!”

                …the skin crawls over the bones and prepares to leap upon it’s prancing prey amidst the lanes of canes that mark the pathway to incomprehendibility which we all must hop soon or late amidst the floating moat of blood-red eyeballs…

                “GAH!”  Cyborg reared up, clutching his head.  “GET OUT… STOP… STOP THINKING…!”

                The green dog stared at him and shook his head.  “I fear I am too late.”

                Six hundred pounds of metallic man suddenly collapsed onto the control room floor, a stray hand knocking a switch as he did so.

                …all minds so many minds fill the bubbles with the thoughts of others but popoppop and more bubbles needed the fragile skin-skull cannot hold the oh my little oh no oh no what did I sorry so sorry  but the release release and NO more thoughts…

                “Titans Tower has just gone into complete lockdown.”  Batman frowned at the computer.

                “But that’s what you expected, isn’t it?”  From the passenger seat of the Batmobile, Wonder Woman glanced toward him, trying to hide her confusion.  She doubted she’d EVER understand Bruce.  “That message you intercepted—remind me to nag you about bugging the League’s communicator, by the way—said that’s exactly what they were going to do.”

                “Yes, but it still seems odd they would do it without any further follow up message, or some kind of general broadcast.”  Batman tapped his fingers against the steering wheel restlessly.  “Perhaps I ought to do a quick pass over with the Batwing just to make sure they’re alright.”

                This time Wonder Woman couldn’t hide her smirk.  “Perhaps you’re just worried about your apprentice’s mysterious injury.”

                “Ridiculous, Princess.”  His manner changing instantly, Batman tapped a few keys on the dashboard and studied the glowing route traced on the map.  “In any case, we don’t have time.  Bane is never one to take lightly.”

                ...fireflies light up the world in the city of owls as the tadpoles tickle the octopus’ fur of the sestina of the seasons spelling wasps of orange and purple swam through the bells of Halloween Jack…

                Sai forced himself upward.  He’d had this in training.  It was an interrogation technique, if a curiously construed one.  Carefully he drove his thoughts inward, focused them.

                …and the clouds bled rainbow thoughts to the oozing caverns below, their viscous liquid reflecting off the arteries and tributaries of the skies amidst the teddy bear both short and fat not to be wondered at…

                Collecting his thoughts, he renewed his defenses, pushing the foreign thoughts outward.  Dimly he could feel chakra pounding into the seal on his neck, resisting the thoughts, shielding his inner mind from the worse.  Danzou had designed the seals himself, they would hold.

                …and rolling rolling rolling the planet Bubble turned slowly in the great sea of the universe thoughts mixing melding dissolving all in one…

                And then they were gone.  Sai stood erect, trembling, and breathing hard, but cognizant.  His mind was his own.  He could think, and though he could still feel the thoughts pounding against his mind, they could not yet touch him.  For a moment he calmed his thoughts, shored up his defenses, and regained control of his nerves.  Then he thought.

                An external attack.  Interrogatory.   A strong genjutsu.  His hand stopped halfway to his belt.  No.  Already tried that, genjutsu somehow able to overcome pain threshold.  Unless a secondary genjutsu?  But to what purpose?  He shook his head.  No.  More likely the agent of primary genjutsu, finally making assault on my mind.

                Having determined his enemy, Sai’s mind quickly flew to what he had already hypothesized about the primary genjutsu.  It was extremely powerful and comprehensive, and incorporated pain very well.  Given that his friends were acting VERY much in character, he supposed that they were in a ‘shared’ genjutsu of some kind, with perhaps Shino and the Hyuugas imprisoned elsewhere.

As to who was running the genjutsu, Sai’s last memory was that of fighting Sasuke.  Conceivably, then, he was either in the infamous Tsukiyomi, a more basic Sharingan genjutsu, or another kind, implemented by a clan from a foreign village. 

                But that attack… Sai frowned.  He’d recognized that attack.  It was a Yamanaka-style brain invasion.  He’d undergone one once before, at the hands of Fu, one of Root’s higher jounins.  But that made no sense.  Yamanaka’s were exclusive to Konoha (with the exception of a few traitors).  Neither Sasuke nor a rival village should have access to one with that much power.

                But they would have access to Ino, he realized.  Ino had been with the rest of them when they were captured.  Perhaps she had fully succumbed to the genjutsu and was unintentionally being used to assault their minds.   Come to think of it… that WOULD explain her odd behavior over the last couple days.

                Sai drew his kunai, mind made up.  If he could break, or at least weaken, the technique’s hold on Ino, she should pull out of it enough to stop the attacks.  Hopefully, the experience would FINALLY convince her and the others of the unreality of this world, but in either case it would be a delay.

                The only weakness in this plan, Sai realized, was that he was currently on the bottom floor of the Tower, while Ino was on the fifth floor, near the top.  And doubtlessly the genjutsu would do everything possible to keep him from reaching there.

                Still, he had a mission now.  He drew his short sword as several dark figures materialized from the darkness.  “The mission.”  He muttered, staring intently at the creatures’ glowing red eyes.  “Nothing matters except the mission.”

                “We can’t send them any messages right now,” said Bumblee, turning to the dark-eyed Aqualad.  “Their base has gone into lockdown, everything’s cut off.”

                “A shame.”  Aqualad frowned.  He and the Titan’s East impromptu technician were sequestered in their own tower control room, studying a blinking transmission screen.  “I wanted Robin’s opinion on this lead… it could prove important.”

                “Especially if we could get that Kiba kid to help out.”  With a nod, the dark-skinned girl kicked off from the console and floated up into the air.  “His nose might be able to tell whether the lead is legit or not.”

                “Time’s running out on this.  I really wish Robin had been able to help with the investigation directly.  I’m no master detective.”

                Bumblebee shrugged.  “You do fine, we just don’t have anything to work with.  Or haven’t anyway, until now.”

                “Hm.”  Aqualad did not seem convinced, but let it pass.  “I suppose it did help when they sent us Beast Boy a few days ago.  And that… bug manipulator.”

                “He was weird.”

                A grin crossed Aqualad’s face.  “Bumblebee, ‘weird’ is practically a pre-requisite for our kind of work.  He made a number of valuable suggestions and offered some intriguing perspectives.  If he had not been there, we might not have found this latest clue in time.”

                “Assuming we can actually INVESTIGATE this latest clue in time for it to be of any good.”  Bumblebee threw another irritated look at the screen.

                “True.”  Again Aqualad frowned.  “How long does their lockdown usually last?”

                Shrugging, Bumblebee responded, “Depends.  It’s pretty much like ours, you realize, it ends only when they’ve decided the threat is over.  Could be an hour, could be a day… could be a week, although you might want to investigate if it gets that far.”

                “Hm.”  Aqualad considered.  “I don’t suppose I could just fly the jet there and request an emergency landing.”

                “You could. The defense systems would probably blow you apart before you landed, though.”

                Turning, Aqualad arched a disbelieving eyebrow.  “They’d DO that?”

                “I told you, it’s like our system.  They lock everything down.  Anyone not in the system or in the designated ‘lockdown’ areas is shot on sight.  Theoretically with non-lethal weaponry but…”  Bumblebee gave a shamefaced shrug.  “…well, with metas, ‘non-lethal’ is hard to determine.”

                “And I’m not in the system.”

                “You’re not a Titan.  Well, not a Titan West, anyway, and you’re DEFINITELY not a regular inhabitant of the Tower.  And even if you were…”  Bumblebee frowned, “…I’m not sure you’d be in the system any longer.  They had to rework their entire security protocol, remember?”

                “Hm.  That’s right.”

                “They might need to re-issue out identities to all the Titans.  Those ninja guys too, if they’re still there.”  Again Bumblebee frowned.  “I hope they got that ironed out before they activated the system.”

                “Why?”  Aqualad arched his other eyebrow.

                “Well, the inside system is much like the outside.  Shoot on sight.  Theoretically non-lethal, but…”

                “…hard to determine.”

                “Exactly.” 

                “What does the inside system consist of?  Ours is a bunch of little flying swarm bots, as I remember.”

                “Killer Beez.”  The girl’s face held a touch of annoyance.  “Cybernetic flyers to supplement the already-installed aggressive security functions.  I can’t be sure, but I imagine Cyborg must’ve made robot copies of himself for his base.”

                Metallic ninjas.  Sai wondered as his kunai smashed through another faceplate.  Who would include something as ridiculous as metallic ninjas in their genjutsu?  It was a dead giveaway.

                Then again, so were the green floating men, the strange orange girl, and the shape-shifting furry boy.  Whoever was running this genjutsu must be confident enough in its strength to include such obvious impossibilities.  Sai almost felt a passing admiration for the man.

                That was quickly squelched, though, by the whine of a sonic cannon powering up.  Eyes widening, Sai leapt back a full ten feet and whipped around the passageway, just as the burst of energy shot straight past him.  He took the interval to draw out his scroll and scribble down a hasty sketch.  Holding up his hands in a familiar seal, he felt the chakra flow out of him and into the ink.

                Instantly ten lions shot from the page, roaring around the corner to tear into the robotic ranks.  Sai followed a step behind them, supplementing their attacks with the occasional kunai or explosive note—not many though, his supplies were already low.

                His lions didn’t last long.  Fast and strong they might be, but they were still just ink, and disintegrated under one solid hit from a laser cannon.  Still, they made an effective shield as he leapt and dove his way through the metallic ninjas and the various other… devices planted in the corridors.

                This particular section was proving tricky.  After a rather painful encounter with an electric floor, Sai had zipped across on an ink eagle, only to have it shot down by a laser cannon on the wall.  Much to his relief, the floor was no longer electrical, however rather distressingly, it WAS full of razor-tipped spikes.

                Momentarily Sai wondered about the usefulness of having a floor panel that turned to spikes.  Then it occurred to him that, as said device was ripping his arm muscles apart, it was probably a fairly useful security device, at least for a genjutsu.  Ignoring the pain, he planted a hand on the floor and launched himself up to the wall, boosting chakra to his feet.  The whine of a tracking laser alerted him to several floating robots (floating?  This was REALLY pushing it), and he put on a burst of speed, leaping from wall to wall to evade the blasts that tore up the ground behind him.

                He was running so fast he didn’t even notice the electrified wall until it was too late.

                Pain shot through his soles, up his legs.  Faintly he smelt the burn of rubber as the hallway swirled around him.  His skull met the floor with a crack, and bright lights exploded in his skull.  He fought them back, blinked them away and focused on the glowing red eyes beyond.

                His feet found the ground, pushed against it.  He was up, his arm shot out, sword in hand.  The first pair of eyes broke apart in a shatter of metal and glass.  He caught the second pair on the edge of his blade and it…

                …dissolved in smoke?

                Sai had not the luxury to consider it.  More eyes were approaching, some with the steady, slow tread of the metallic ninjas, others with the bob of the floating robots,  others with a new, erratic movement that leapt all over the place.  Sai shot amongst them, slashing and cutting, still wary of the multitude traps.  As he shot under one of the emergency lightings, he caught a glimpse of his new assailants.

                Foxes? 

Sai shrugged.  At least they were more probable than the flying metallic ninjas.  Perhaps the genjutsu master was learning.  He tossed a few shuriken and watched them poof into smoke before whipping around and bringing up his sword.  Six darts bounced off the metal blade, making light pings as they rebounded into the darkness.  He jumped for the eyes that had fired them, but even as he did he heard the whirr of a charging laser…

“AAAAGH!”  Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of shattered metal.  Sai could not ponder the identity of the new intruder, he was too busy plunging his sword into the attackers around him.  But though he could not SEE his new ally, he could hear her—and it was a her—very well.

“AH!  DIE!  TAKE THAT, STUPID  TRASHCAN REJECT!  HAhaHA!  Up YOURS!  Yeah, whadda think about THAT, huh?  Bet they didn’t teach you THAT at the Ultimate Jerkass Academy!  I’ll bet you… AH!  OH YOU ARE SO DEAD BUSTER!”

The newcomers monologue continued for the rest of the fight, until finally the robots seemed to clear away and the two managed to win a breathing space.  Only then did Sai turn to his newfound comrade—and stumble back in shock.  Despite the dimly glowing glare of the emergency lighting, he could easily make out the shock of brilliant pink hair atop his psychotic savior.  With difficulty, he cleared his throat.

“Sakura-san?”  He asked, somewhat dubiously.

Sakura’s head jerked around, her eyes curiously wide and her mouth set in a decidedly disturbing grin.  “Not exactly.”

                “What do you mean, changed?”  Luthor’s pace was rapid and clipped, and the scientist beside him struggled to match it.

                “I mean, sir, he’s acting completely contrary to our testing sessions.  He’s awake—despite the medication—and completely lucid and complete sane.  Nothing about killing or destroying or anything.”

                “Fascinating.”  Luthor’s brow furrowed in concentration.  “Our collaborator indicated he had some sort of multiple personality disorder, perhaps this is the other persona.  But why should he unveil it now, when all our other prisoners are simply catatonic?”

                The scientist made a helpless gesture.  “I’m not sure, sir.  At first, his reaction was the same at the others—thrashing and uttering incoherent phrases.  We had all the guards on standby and were about to call for backup, when he suddenly fell silent and simply collapsed back onto the bed.  By that time, we’d heard about the others, and just assumed…”  the scientist paused as the blast doors slid open.  “…but then he woke back up and started talking.”  Again he shrugged helplessly.  “I contacted you as soon as possible.”

                “You were right to do so.”  Luthor nodded, turning to a balcony above a piece of silvered glass.  “Make it transparent, and give me audio.  I want to talk to him while he’s like this.”

                The glass turned clear, and Luthor offered a pleasant smile to the man strapped to the table below.  “Konichiwa, Juugo.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                “So, you are not Sakura, but a separate version of Sakura, who exists inside her mind.”

                “Boy, you’re awful fast for an insensitive clueless pervert who couldn’t socialize his way out of a Inuzuka pack,” snorted Sakura.  Or rather ‘not-Sakura,’ whatever she was.  “For over the third time, yes, I’m forehead girl’s inner persona.”  Ducking a laser blast, she shot back up and smashed an annoying robot to bits.  “First time I’ve been out in a while.”

                “I see.”  Sai considered this a moment.  “And… why are you out now?”

                An angry shrug answered him.  “How am I supposed to know, moron?  All I know is that the rest of Sakura is down for the count, and I’M the only voice left in this head to keep track of things!”

                “I see.”

                “This is just like the time that pig Ino tried to take over my head.”  A hint of triumph came into not-Sakura’s voice as she punched her way through three red-eyed foxes.  “Sure showed HER who was boss.  HA!”

                “Ah.”  Things were taking a bit more shape now.  This non-Sakura persona must be invulnerable to genjutsus or mind-control jutsus.  Sai had always wondered about Sakura’s skill with the techniques, now he began to understand it somewhat.  Perhaps she would understand.  “You know, then, what’s going on here?”

                “Not the slightest clue.”  Non-Sakura shook her head.

                “What?  Even you cannot tell that we are all trapped in a giant comprehensive pain-incorporating mutual genjutsu that is finally making an assault upon us?”  Sai eyed the pink haired girl with a touch of disappointment.  “I would have thought you’d notice.”

                Not-Sakura eyed him with one dilated green pupil.  “Y’know what?  Forget what I said earlier.  You’re hopeless even for an insensitive clueless pervert.”

                Sai would have replied had he not been occupied with a new metallic ninja.  Their numbers seemed to be thinning, which was good but made no sense.  Surely the genjutsu master could simply generate more?  Perhaps he was dropping them in favor of the rabid foxes… there certainly seemed to be more of THOSE around.

                Regardless, things were definitely easier with Not-Sakura around.  Her manners left something to be desired, but her ferocity was invaluable, and her sheer strength made her a valuable ally.  A good thing, too, as Sai’s ink had begun to run low. 

They were now on the third level.  Ino’s room was located two floors higher (unless the genjutsu master had created a few extra ones between them).   The best choice of transportation would be the elevator (unless he had changed that too), but that was currently locked down.  They could either take the stairs or try to unlock it through the control room.  Sakura had opted for the control room.  Sai did not consider this the best option, but he knew better than to argue with Sakura, especially a deranged, psychotic killer persona of Sakura.

Unfortunately, the control room seemed to be the most heavily guarded location on base—at least the most in terms of those annoying hallway defenses.  Sai was getting VERY tired of electrified floors and mounted laser cannons.  And he had very few shuriken left to deal with them.  Growling, he prepared another to take out a particularly offensive mounted cannon.

…the slithy toves went gimbling over the reeds of Greenland in the aftershocks of the fire storm that sent blackened warthogs tumbling from the necks of circus holes and great grandfather clocks ticking ticking…

Sai stumbled, caught himself, and tossed a shuriken at the laser gun.  The seal was weakening.  They needed to hurry.  Turning to face a new wave of opponents, Sai readied himself only to leap backwards as a brilliant wave of blue light tore into his enemies.  A quick glance around showed him the source.

“Get ready!  A  big one!”  Sai called, whipping out his sword.  The single eye looming through the darkness was very large, very red, and accompanied by a noticeable hum of power.  This would probably be a rather difficult battle.

At that moment, to Sai’s intense confusion, a stoic-looking Cyborg stepped into the light, accompanied by a small green dog.

“Gar?”  Not-Sakura was apparently just as surprised as he.  “Where’s Raven?  Cyborg, what’s going on around here?”

The dog just cocked his head and looked at them.  Cyborg did not immediately respond, but simply stared at them for a long moment or two, then opened his mouth and said in a decided monotone:  “Analysis complete.  Two organics identified as Sai and Haruno Sakura, temporary residents of tower.  Alignment: Ally.  Both appear to be in moderate physical condition, despite numerous wounds.”

“Huh?”  Not-Sakura arched a hostile eyebrow.  “Cyborg, you okay?  Gar, what’s wrong with trashman here?”

Again, surprisingly, Beast Boy did not respond.  Again, Cyborg mentioned in the same odd manner.  “Status of Cyborg Unit: Operational.  All parts in functioning order.  Experiencing difficulty with organic mental processors.  Forced to rely on behavior protocols contained in synthetic part of body.”

Sai thought about this a moment.  “You are saying, then, that due to the divided nature of your mind, one half can absorb the genjutsu, leaving the other free to function normally?”

“Term ‘genjutsu’ not recognized.”  Cyborg blinked at the Root nin.  “Please try again.”

“Let it go.”  Not-Sakura waved casually.  “We got it.  Okay, so you’re a walking bunch of bolts right now.  But what’s wrong with Beast Boy?”

“Beast Boy is currently insensible in Raven’s quarters.”

Sai’s mind processed various interpretations of that phrase, but Not-Sakura was focused on another matter entirely.  “Then who the heck is that stupid mutt?”

“Unknown.”

“What?”  Both Sai and Sakura blinked at this revelation.

“Individual 102934 has been met recently.  Species: Canine.   Alignment: Ally.  Preferred designation has not yet been learned.”

“Ooookaaaay…”  Not-Sakura eyed the two dubiously.  “So you’re friends with a wacko puppy dog.  Why not.  Any idea where all the other losers are and why they’re not helping us?”

Cyborg tilted his head, considering.  “Ninja Rock Lee is insensible in the training area.  Ninja Aburame Shino is insensible in the landing bay.  Ninja Yamanaka Ino is insensible in her quarters.  Titans Starfire and Robin are insensible together in the infirmary.  Ninjas Hinata, Naruto, Neji, Chouji, and Kiba are all insensible together on the top floor.”

Sai’s mind was screaming with the alternate translations.  Desperately he sought to stay focused.  “We need to access the elevator.  Can you unlock it?”

“Negative.  The base is in lockdown and the elevator has been sealed.  The release for the lockdown is dependent on my organic processing units, which are currently inoperable.  However, still possible to employ elevator.”

Sai blinked.  “How?”

“Elevator shaft reaches all levels of tower.  Possible to travel directly to affected floor.  Doors, though locked, can be removed through use of excessive force.”  Cyborg began to walk past them, staring firmly ahead, dog trotting at his heels.  “Useable elevator shaft nearby, pursuing quickest possible route.”

“Affected floor?”  Not-Sakura arched an eyebrow.  “What do you mean, affected floor?”

“Individual 102934 has informed me that the psychic disturbance is emanating from Yamanaka Ino.”  A flash of light shot from Cyborg’s cannon, destroying the wall directly behind them.  Methodically he strode over the rubble, blasting the metallic ninjas that came hurrying forward.  “Disturbance can only be halted by directly confronting Yamanaka Ino.”

Sai nodded, that meshed, more or less, with his own plan.  He very much doubted the genjutsu creature intended to find Ino for the same reason as he did, but it would be easy to betray him later.

Not-Sakura, unsurprisingly, was more vocal about the matter.  “What?  Oh, c’mon, Ino-pig is a bitch and all, but attacking her is a bit much, don’tcha think?”

“We are not attacking her.”  Cyborg’s cannon was going off right and left, Sai had only to slash the few foxes that broke through the barrage.  “Individual 102934 has a plan for dealing with the situation.”

“Oh, the doggie has a plan, does he?  That’s good to know.”  Sarcasm was heavy on Not-Sakura’s voice.  “He wouldn’t happen to know what’s up with the rabid foxes in here, would he?”

“No.”  There was a hint of hesitation in Cyborg’s robotic voice.  “I am unable to explain their presence, and Individual 102934 has not mentioned them.”

Sai had a perfectly rational explanation for them, but he did not think it would help to mention it to the others.  He certainly had no intentions of revealing his knowledge to the genjutsu master.  Instead, he concentrated for the moment on slicing as many of them open as possible.

“Elevator reached.”  He heard Cyborg say.  “Stand clear.”  There was a noise of tearing metal, and two thick sheets of metal came whistling past Sai’s ear to smash into the attackers.  “Access to elevator achieved.”

“I could have handled that.”  Not-Sakura grumbled as they entered the elevator.  “I would have if you’d asked me nicely, jerk.”

“What now?”  Sai asked, ignoring his psychotic teammate.  “I thought the elevator wouldn’t operate with the lockdown in place.”

“Affirmative.  Elevator is simply in way, elevator shaft is the crucial room to acquire access to.”  Cyborg frowned upwards.  “Ceiling could be removed through excessive force, but unnecessary.  Emergency exit in roof will secure desired access.”

“I’LL get that, thank you very much.”  Not-Sakura glanced around the ceiling.  “Where is it?”

“It is located where the sign says ‘Emergency Exit.’”

“Oh.  Well thanks for making me look like an idiot, garbage man.”  Sakura leapt up and smashed the sign with one hand.

“Gratitude accepted.  Also, emergency exit could be opened.  Force not necessary.”

“I’ll use force whenever I please, moron,” snapped Sakura, already climbing through the exit.  “Now c’mon and get out here…”  She paused.  “Whoah.  Someone did a number on her.”

“Who?”  Sai jumped upwards, caught the sides of the hole with his hands and pulled himself up.  Then he caught sight of the person in question.

Hinata’s crumpled body was lying insensible on the elevator rooftop.  Much of her clothing was torn, and her body bore the marks of many scratches, shallow and deep.  Most noticeable was the rising bruise on her face, where presumably she had fallen on the elevator car.

“Hm.”  Sai surveyed the Hyuuga with mild surprise.  Why would the genjutsu do something like this?

“I thought you said Hinata was insensible with Naruto and the others?”  Sakura turned to Cyborg, who was struggling up through the hole.

“That was based on outdated intelligence.  I am at a loss to explain her presence here or her condition.”

Sai decided to play along.  “Apparently she was in a fight with the foxes,” observed he.  “She must have been knocked down the elevator shaft, or perhaps she was even fighting within the shaft itself.”

“Makes sense.”  Not-Sakura nodded.  “But this looks like more than foxes.  Who could she have been fighting with?”

“That would be me, brat.”

Three heads shot up to face a maliciously grinning blonde, crouched against the wall of the elevator shaft  His canines glinted dangerously in the reddish tint of the lights.

Not-Sakura arched an eyebrow. “Naruto?”

The blonde’s head tilted a little, and his smile grew wider.  “Naruto isn’t here right now.”

-------------------------- ------------------    ------------------------------      -----------   ------------------------  --------------

                “J’onn’s not here right now, or he could easily help with this.”  Green Lantern frowned.  “When did you say it began?”

                “Around two hours ago.  He was just in the tube as normal, floating around, throwing insults at us, when all of a sudden he let out a howl and the water started churning and boiling and everything.  We thought the tube was going to break, but just as it was getting really bad, it all stopped, and now it’s settled into this.”  The scientist gestured at the tube, full of nothing but clear, calm water.  “We’ve blown bubbles through it, heated it up, even opened it once—but nothing.”

                “He’s reverted into completely still water.”    Superman marveled.    “Not even any body.  You’re sure you weren’t doing anything… unusual to him directly before this happened?”

                “Nothing at all.  All the readouts show conditions as normal.”

                Flash cocked his head.  “Why do you say J’onn could help with this?  We don’t know it’s mental or psychic or anything.”

                “It seems like a coma to me.”  Lantern shook his head.  “But that fit right before he went catatonic almost seems to indicate something further—like a seizure of some kind.  It’s certainly not an escape ploy of his and it doesn’t seem he was feeling any kind of pain or anything unusual beforehand.  Of course, it might be the chakra equivalent of a heart attack or something.”  Sighing, he touched a hand to his ear.  “Terrific?  Where are you?”

                “On my way down.”  The communicator crackled.  “I’ve been informed of the situation.  But there’s something odd—it sounds like he had the fit just when the Titans locked their tower down.  There may be some kind of connec…”

                “AAAAARRRRGH!!”  Superman’s hands flew to his head.  “Wha… WAHHHHHHH!!”  His legs gave way and he keeled to the floor, panting.

                “Supes?”  Flash dashed to Clark’s side.  “Supes, what’s the…”

                “OUT!  Stay OUT!”  Superman’s arm lashed out and nearly smashed into Wally.  “No, stop, no more… NO MORE!”

                “Superman!”  Immediately a green force field was around the caped hero.  “Get a grip!  Pull yourself together man, what’s going on!”

                “There’re… voices… images… they’re everywhere!  The beetles creeping over the face of doom where chaos sits in state and… AAAGH!”

                “Superman!”

                The mighty Man of Steel fell to the floor, writhing.

---- ----     ------------    --------------   -----------------   ------------------         --    ------------------   ----------------  -----

                …help help I can’t stop so many minds bubbles like planets bursting and the cries frozen in the dark where pieces mix and flow together like the fields of jell-o amidst the crashing bashing my only son given to the galaxy’s life where holes swallow up the dark…

• -------  ---_------          __-__        ----------___--                    -------------____-           -------------------__

                “Analysis: psychic attack has debilitated ninja Uzumaki Naruto’s ability to suppress the Kyuubi will, causing it to achieve dominance over the body.”

                “No duh, GENIUS.  Ya think?”  Not-Sakura grumbled, dodging another stream of chakra.  “Just be glad it’s only his will that we have to worry about.  If he had access to his chakra, we’d be in REAL trouble.”

                Sai chose not to comment on the fact that Naruto had fairly strong chakra reserves already.

                “Indeed.”  Naruto—no, Kyuubi, snarled as he leapt back, racing along the wall.  “Would that I had my own power to crush you like the insects you are.  But though this pitiful vessel and his seal prevent me from attaining my full strength, I still possess the abilities  to destroy you all.”  He clapped his hands together.  “Kage Bunshin no jutsu!”

                Thousands of the little orange, rabid foxes appeared about him, teeth bared for the fight.  As they leapt at the ninjas, a jet of fire shot from Naruto’s mouth, barely missing Not-Sakura.  She said something Sai hadn’t even known she’d heard.  “Hey, bolt head!”  She called down the shaft.  “Haul your metallic ass up here and give us a hand!”

                “Reply: Metallic posterior inoperable, as legs are missing.  Hands still present, but distance makes transfer impractical.”  Cyborg was lying, very calmly, on the elevator car beside Hinata.  Both his legs had been blown apart by a well-placed Rasengan, and he could only watch as the other two ninjas battled their way up the shaft.

                Sai was more familiar with technical terminology than Sakura.  “Covering fire requested!” he managed to shout, in between fox attacks.

                “Acknowledged.”  Blue light lit up the shaft, cutting into the fox ranks.  It occurred to Sai that a weapon like Cyborg’s was really quite useful in such a confined space.  It was also, of course, quite hazardous to any allies you might have in said confined space, but that was true of any weapon.

                The light cut out and Sai plunged into the dense smoke cloud left from the dissipated fox bunshins.  It would soon be gone and he needed to make the most of it.  Unfortunately, Not-Sakura was probably doing the same on the other side, so he didn’t dare leap across or even do any routine swerving for fear of running into her.  He simply ran in a straight line and hoped Kyuubi hadn’t seen him.

                He hadn’t.  But he HAD seen Sakura.

                “GAH!  You STUPID demon fox-possessed MORON!  I don’t care if you are some ageless embodiment of evil wearing Naruto’s body, you are going DOWN for that!”  There was a large cracking sound from the other side of the shaft.  “Oh SNAP!  You did NOT just…”  Another smash.  Sai was clear of the smoke now, but he didn’t dare look back to see the fight.  The floor he needed was only a few inches higher.  “AaaaGGAH!  Naruto, if you ever get your right mind back I am going to KILL you for being so moronically…”

                A sudden loud clang, as if of bone hitting metal, cut her short.  Moments later, great streaks of blue lit up the shaft.  “Cyborg unit in distress!  Requesting assistance!”  Sai could hear the battle but he ignored it.  The genjutsu creation could handle itself, and he had far more pressing concerns—the enormous metal door sealing off the hallway from the shaft.  Reaching into his pouch, he whipped out one of his last remaining explosive tags, and placed it on the door.  Then, leaping back to the opposite wall (and narrowly avoiding a stray blast from Cyborg) he held up his hands in a seal.

                BOOOOOM!

                So much for stealth.  Sai could practically hear Naruto’s head whipping around.  Even worse, the door appeared as solid as before.  Desperately he prepared another tag.

                “Observation has revealed ally Sai’s plan.  Rendering assistance, request ninja Sai stand clear!”  Sai had barely time to understand this before a truly enormous blast lit up the shaft and smashed into the door.  A series of growing growls beneath alerted him to the Kyuubi’s attention, and he dove for the now gaping hole…

                …deep deep into the mountain of darkness where the pink petticoats drift softly through the screaming children as they practice their geriatrics amidst the lull of a sheepskin boat monkey thought ‘twas all in Konoha…

--_--         ___-----_#--_       ##---_______-___------    __--------------#--___         _____-----------___     ---_-

                Deep in Jump City, Milidred Cruller sat up in bed, clutching her grey hairs.  “My stars!  She moaned.  “My stars!”

                …beside the waterfall of goose feathers we sat and wailed for the six merry marmalades of how do you solve a problem the green light of a sister reveals the wings of a gorilla…

##--__            ___--------_-------                ___----_--#^---________--         ^^^^___-------------_-------#*----

                Sai felt the floor as he plowed into it.  Vaguely behind him he heard the growing snarls of the fox pack.  Push up, he told himself.  Keep working, remember your training.

                Upward he struggled, raising his sword.  He backpedalled down the hallway as quickly as possible, making sure to face the open elevator door.  Which room was Ino’s?  Was that locked too?  Could he break it?

                A sharp whine distracted him for a moment, and he stared in bewilderment as a small green dog clambered over the ledge and dashed toward him, yipping frantically.  That thing is still with us?

                He forced the thought away as dozens of rabid foxes came plowing through the hole.  Left and right he slashed with his sword, continually moving backward.  The hallway filled with smoke but more kept coming.

                …born on a valley we all go merrily down to the haiku of the sapphires…

                He fought the words away and kept fighting.  The hallway around him was twisting, and he could barely see the walls through the strangely shifting shapes, but he needed to keep on.  Behind him he heard the dog yipping… yipping at a door!  Ino’s door!  He backpedaled even faster, scattering water droplets as he did.  Those sprinkler things were on now—doubtless activated by the smoke.  Pausing outside the door, he reached for his last explosive note…

                …the cage of ink held the deer trapped within the forest of sand as blood leaked over teeth and gums a once-friend stared over the treetops for the sake of the stadium…

_---***$#-                __----##___-----^-*-__#@---_              __---- _*#@$------     _--*--#$---           #*--___         

                At a gas station near the waterfront, two masked men stood at the counter, guns at the ready.  As the sweating teen across from them shoveled cash out of the register, one of the two suddenly screamed and folded in half.  “No… NO!  Too much!  No MORE!  TURN THE SHIT OFF!”  He collapsed to the floor, still screaming.  “TURN IT OFF!”

                “What the…” his partner and the teen stared at him open-mouthed.  “Daran?  Hey, Daran, stick with me!  Man, keep at this, we gotta… Aw shit man, the fuzz are gonna hear… Daran!”

                …the ankh of Mordecai the Martian who sewed shut the mouths of cannons with but a pixie stick and ankle tendons that whistled merrily of Jack the Box and all the effort in voodoo would never suffice to…

--*@#%-                )@#^----___^             #$---__()---##*^^---__--$#*             ---*___^_#@--               -#/*

                …force it back… BACK!  The mission!  Focus on the Mission.

                Dizzily Sai realized that the little green dog was standing over him, darting at the little foxes with a bizarre ferocity.  Smoke was still in the air.  Drizzling rain was falling all around him.  He staggered upright, and, using the time the dog had given him, tugged out a small scroll—one of his pre-arranged drawings.  Undoing the clasp, he let it fall open and held up his hands in a seal, trying to focus the necessary chakra.  Several wolves sprang to life from the paper and shot at the foxes, forcing them back.

                With a weary grin at the dog, Sai turned almost lazily toward the door… it was a door, right?  What was that eyeball… oh, hallucinations.  Focus.  The mission.  Picking up his dropped explosive note, he reached out and placed it squarely in the middle of a screaming green mouth.  Strange that a mouth should feel so metallic.  Again he brought up his fingers.

                BOOM!

                Sai flew back against the wall and for a moment the pain made everything clear.  The hallway was dim, red emergency lighting glinting from the thousand little drops of the sprinklers.  He could make out his ink wolves fighting off the foxes… they were losing. 

Beyond the exploded door, he could see a crumpled mass of blonde hair on the ground.

There.  Slowly he struggled forward…

…squids that burrow beneath the skyline of the skin and suck the bones from gaping river interlaced with the times of bats and kings towers stood against the water ooze creeping from their eyelets of…

            ---#$-__       @-()*   _              ----^%__----@#$---____@#34___--------                 )*-           __

                “Milla?  Honey, did you have a bad dream?  We heard you screaming… Milla?  Milla, please wake up dear.  Wake up, Milla, mommy’s here.  This isn’t funny.  Milla, you need to…”

                …the eyes of flame built the teeth of this great sandwich amidst the flotsam and jetsam of the demon’s head the dreaming that is seeming to feed oneself on batter why the sea is boiling hot…

                                ()------_#@$                                       *@                         ()!@#---!@___12#!$------------------

                Sai snapped suddenly back into consciousness, just in time to roll away from the Rasengan aimed at his head.  Panting, he leapt to his feet and reached for his sword… but it was gone.  Warily he eyed the growling Naruto creeping toward him on all fours.   Sai was nearly out of chakra… but Naruto probably had much more to spare.

                Why is everything so clear?

                Naruto and he continued circling each other.  Now Naruto was between he and Ino’s room.  “Don’t try it, brat.  That girl’s the only thing keeping my noisy host out of things right now.  I’m not about to get completely free for the first time in years, only to be swallowed up by that blonde-headed excuse for a ninja.”

                Something furry bumped against Sai’s leg.  He didn’t dare look down but he knew what it was.  That thing is still here?  He wondered.

                Slowly, he could not tell where, a strange, wild idea obsessed him.  He had to get the dog into Ino’s room.  He simply had to.  Once that little green dog could get over to Ino’s body, all of this would be over.  Nothing would matter anymore.

                Except Naruto was still between the dog and Ino.

                Water dripped down his nose as he considered.  He could keep circling and hope Naruto moved away, but he doubted it would work.  He could charge head on, but the Kyuubi would be ready for that and simply bat him away.  He had no more shuriken, no more explosive tags, very little ink.

                More water trickled down his face.  Things felt curiously quiet now.  Almost still.  Distractedly, he watched the red-tinted water spray through the air.

                Water…

                Sai smiled a long, slow, genuine smile.  “Go.”  He whispered to the dog.  “I’ll take care of Kyuubi.”  As quickly as he dared, he whipped up his hands in a seal.  “Hey dickless.”  He told Naruto.  “I’m a water type.”

          Q*$)                            *@(---___^$%(                                                ()                             $#^$                      _-

                …the runic rhyme with the cleaning fluid that fills the bubbles and poppopop so many bubbles sso many minds out there more beyond the water grab touch break…

                                (23_--                                                    *&#@^--___23e-- `()/                                   *---2#&

                The green dog dashed forward as the water dragon shot at the blonde ninja.  Steam arose around him as it met the blonde’s fireball.  He shot over the threshold, making for the child…

$--                          _#($                       (#--                                        _9^@(                                  *(#----^(-2#@#

                …the emperor of ice cream decreed that all the bubbles should break in the so many bubbles so separate we mortal millions live alone like dots in a space connect them break the bubbles flow together…

                *(--                        *)                            ^%--                                      #@---__                               *()         

                The dog leapt into the air, just barely dodging the fireball shot after him.  His body arched, it shifted, it changed form…

                                                                -&$-                       */^--(

                …nein the sash fits you wonderfully like a line through a bubble of crying crying crystal of the another mind strong very strong who is this why are things…

                Hello?

                Hush, little one.  Calm yourself.  Hide within my fold.

                Milla woke up screaming and melted into her mother’s arms.

                Miles away, a profitable conversation with a suddenly cooperative prisoner was cut short by a fresh outburst of raging.  An orderly hurried up to Luthor.  “Sir, the others are waking up.”

                As the police poured in the door, Daran raised himself up, pale and trembling, and surrendered without a fight.

                “Ohhhhh…”  Superman eased up off the floor.  “Wha… what the heck was that?”

                Green Lantern and Flash eyed him, unsure of what to say.  In the nearby tube, a familiar figure came back into existence.

                Milidred Cruller’s son Ford came in to see what was wrong with his mother.  Moments later, he called the ambulance.  She had had a heart attack.

                And all over the Titan’s Tower, the others started to wake up.  Lee blinked back into wakefulness and felt his aching head.  Shino stumbled up and reached about for his sunglasses.  Raven woke up to find Beast Boy slumped across her and shoved him off seconds before he also awoke.

                And in the infirmary, Robin jolted into wakefulness and leapt from the bed.  Ignoring Starfire’s cries, he dashed out into the hallway, making for the elevator.  He took a few seconds to check on Cyborg and the still-comatose Hinata before shimmying up the elevator cable and jumping through the smoking hole.  Stepping over Sai and Naruto’s crumpled bodies, he surveyed the tattered interior of Ino’s room.

                There, leaning over Ino, long green fingers pressed against her skull, was J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter.

                “Miss Yamanaka’s brain structure is similar to that of a Martian’s.”  J’onn explained later in the conference room.  “I recognized this immediately upon examining her, but was unaware, or rather—unsure—of the possible implications and so said nothing.”  He bowed his head in shame.  “I should have foreseen this development.”

Robin nodded contemplatively.  It fit.  He’d realized Ino was the telepath when he’d had that episode outside her room, he just hadn’t known how it’d happened.  “You’re saying, then, that her… bloodline, as they call it in Konoha, is a mutation of some kind?  That made her a telepath?”

“A… latent one.  Potential.  Before her, I doubt any of her bloodline have unlocked this.”

“Why did this happen to her now?”  Sai—who really ought to have been in the medical ward with Hinata, Cyborg, and Naruto (though not badly wounded, Naruto was sorely confused about how he’d come to the fifth floor)—asked.  “She has never done anything like this before.”

“That is partially my fault.”  J’onn threw an apologetic look to the shivering blonde girl beside him.  “It is dangerous for a Martian to attempt to read another Martian’s mind.  When she first arrived at the tower, I attempted such a mindread.  I quickly broke the link as soon as I realized what was happening, but apparently it was too late.  My interference unlocked the shielded parts of her brain, completely opened up her mind.”

“Which caused the memory flashes.”  Robin smiled grimly.  He glanced up at Starfire, who was hovering anxiously above him.  “I suppose an untrained telepath wouldn’t know how to block things out.”

“Exactly.  She was unused to her abilities and could not even tell when she was using them.  Her brain, slowly unhinging, began to read more and more nearby minds without even trying.  As her range increased, so did the thoughts she heard.  They grew to be too much, she needed to send them elsewhere.”

“Neji and I.”

“Indeed.  The transition from empath to telepath is quite dramatic, and often painful.  I felt it from my home in China, and left my wife immediately to investigate… though not, it would seem, in time to prevent the vortex.  I was forced to adopt a disguise, both physical and mental, to mask my presence from the girl’s mind.  It would have latched onto me immediately and I should have had to fight her mentally—an ordeal I do not think she would survive.  I could only halt the vortex through direct contact.”

“Vortex?  What happened here?”  Robin arched an eyebrow.  “What is that, exactly?”

“Put simply, it is a complete joining of minds.  A sharing of all thoughts, all memories, all sentiments into one giant collective whole.  It is the logical extension of a mind running loose reading and releasing thoughts.  Ino’s mind reached out to those nearby and those familiar to her.  If she had been allowed to persist, she might have encompassed the city as well.”

“And what would have happened then?”

“Her brain would probably have broken under the strain.  It takes a powerful telepath to connect so many minds without breaking.  As for the city…”  J’onn shrugged.  “Most would go insane.  A few fortunate ones might die from the shock.”

Ino, still quivering, raised a pair of wide blue eyes to the Martian.

“It has happened before.”  He nodded.  “On Mars.  A certain cult, the White Martians, believed the path to true enlightment lay in the complete joining of minds.  They formed a coven and all opened their minds to each other… it was disastrous.  Insanity does not begin to describe the horror.  Martians have always kept strict control of their minds since that day.”

“Why does the vortex drive one insane?”  Shino spoke up for the first time from his position near the door.  “Is not it beneficial to have a single, hive mind amongst one’s team?”

J’onn smiled sadly.  “So thought the White Martians.  But to become a part of one whole mind requires losing any part of yourself.  You no longer have any identity, personality… you have no ordering principle.  And as no part of the one whole can have identity or understanding, the whole does not have it either.  It becomes a great, unidentifiable, mindmass of chaos.”

There was a long silence while the others mulled over this.  Finally, Robin asked the practical question.  “Will this happen again?”

“Undoubtedly.” J’onn nodded, face grim.  “It would be happening now were I not to have placed her mind within an isolation bubble.  As long as I maintain it, she can neither hear your thoughts nor send them to others.  For the first time in months, she is being herself.”

“Hm.”  Robin studied Ino’s pale face.  From the looks of things, it would take her a while to get used to the idea.  “What do you suggest?”

“There is no suggestion, I fear.  I must remain here, both to keep her shielded and to train her how to control her powers.  Otherwise, what has happened here will happen again.”  J’onn looked at Sai and Ino.  “I must ask your people to put aside their animosity toward the League, however justified, and allow me to do this thing.  The only alternative is to take her to the Metro Tower for me to train there.”

Sai looked at Shino and raised his eyebrows.  Shino shrugged.  “It appears we have little choice, then.”  Heaving himself from the wall, he advanced toward the Martian.  “Very well.  We accept your offer and—if it is agreeable to Robin—invite you to stay here train Ino-san.”

                Huntress woke up as Question was pulling on his overcoat.  “Wuzz goin’ on?  You going to grab breakfast?  Don’ get it from that Mexican place, that makes me puke.”   She considered a moment.  “Don’ get it from McDonalds either, that stuff makes me puke too.”

                “Everything here makes you puke.”  Question threw a bemused faceless expression at her.  “I thought you grew up in Gotham, I thought you’d be used to the food here.”

                “Shaddup.”  Yawning, Huntress sat up and rubbed her eyes.  “If you’re not going to get breakfast, where are you going?”

                “To Chinatown.  Business.”

                Huntress arched an eyebrow at his town.  “You got a lead on our fugitive?”

                “More than that.”  Question paused at the door.  “I think I’ve got him.”

Chapter Text

                The man dashed down the alleyway, panting, darting frenzied glances behind him.  A hungry chorus of yapping barks pursued him, the sound echoing off the high stone buildings on either side.  Dashing the sweat from his eyes, he continued to run, half-stumbling against garbage cans and random debris left from the tenants.

                Finally, inevitably, he came to a dead end.  The walls were shored off, the passageway had been blocked by a low brick wall.  Desperately he leapt for it, scrambled at the bricks, but it was just too high, and the bricks just too smooth.  The barking grew closer and closer as his bleeding fingers clutched at the stone.

                The man whirled as the dogs came around the corner—dogs of all sorts.  Pit bulls, rottweilers, chihuahuas, poodles.  They ranged in appearance from well-fed and groomed to ravenous and scraggly.  All had a hungry gleam in their eye.  Curiously, as they caught sight of the man, their pacing slowed, their barks turned to malicious growls, and they slowly circled him.

                Catching up a handy loose board, the man swung it about, screaming, “Keep back!  Get away you crazy mutts!  What… what on earth is this?  I was out jogging!”

                The guilty must be punished for their crimes.

                The man’s head snapped up.  “Wha—wha?”

                Vengeance must be had.

                There was a sudden disturbance in the pack and a feisty Pomeranian shouldered her way forward.  At the sight of her, the man let out an inarticulate cry and stepped forward.  “Marrel?”

                The Pomeranian wagged her tail.  Then she smiled with a mouth VERY full of teeth. 

                “Marrel?”  As if following the Pomeranian’s cue, the other dogs also smiled, beginning to advance on the man.  “Marrel?  MARREL!  NO!  GET BACK!”

                Screams echoed off the concrete, rebounding far down the alleyway as the dogs partook of their meal.  There was plenty for all.

                A few paces away, a tall pale man in a long green cloak surveyed the scene dispassionately.  His face beneath the hood was long, gaunt, and perfectly white, and his sunken eyes shone with a green fire.  Not a muscle on his face twitched.

                Suddenly his head tilted, as if listening to something far away.  Without turning, he lifted a hand and crooked a finger.  His cloak ruffled in an intangible wind, and suddenly another pale man stood before him, this one clad in a dilapidated circus costume.

                “Boston.”  The Spectre narrowed his eyes.  “What do you mean by trying to summon me in such a manner?  I do not take kindly to such matters.”

                “Not a summon.  Not a summon, I swear.”  Deadman spread his hands placatingly.  If it had been possible, the ghost would have been sweating.  “At least, not  a serious one.  I just needed a way to contact you and… well, it’s kinda hard to find a way, outside of those hedgepenny summoning things that everyone knows you hate.  Figured if I started one, you'd summon ME.”

                Spectre snorted, but he did lower his hand.  Relaxing visibly, Deadman glanced around to see exactly where they were.  “Minneapolis, hm?”  He studied the bloodied alleyway below.  “What’s the story behind this one?”

                “Richard Hentley.  Aged thirty-five.  Killed his wife two years ago for feeding his dog the wrong brand of dog food.”

                “Seriously?”  Deadman glanced down again.  “Dude, some people are messed.  So you tore him apart with dogs?  Boy, you really go for the ironic touch, don’t you?”

                Without even turning, Spectre responded.  “I exercise justice.  I mete out vengeance according to the Commission.  That is all.”

                “Says you.  I could swear you enjoy your job sometimes.”

                “Does this conversation have a point, Boston Brand?”  A hint of steel entered the angel’s voice.

                Boston paled (or would have, had his face not been white).  “Uh, right.  Point.  Um, well, I was talking with some of the other ghosts in the area and we… ah… well, see I was doing this job for the Justice Leaguers and I… Ah…"  Boston abruptly went on a different tack. "Who was that lady I saw you with at the restaurant?”

                “You KNOW who she is, Boston, you were following her.”

                “Right.”  Boston let out a nervous chuckle.  “Right.  I guess I was more asking… uh… what you were doing talking to her.  You know, as opposed to killing her in various clever and poetic ways.”

                Spectre turned to him, an eyebrow raised in almost amusement.  “And why should I do that?”

                “Well…  It’s what you usually do to humans.  And demons.  And ghosts, even, though technically we’re dead already.  And…”  Boston’s voice died away at the irritated look growing on Spectre’s face.  “Uh, right.  The point is, it doesn’t really seem like part of the whole ‘angel of vengeance’ schtick you’re usually on.”

                Spectre turned back and surveyed the city, apparently thinking over Deadman’s question.  “I am not merely the angel of vengeance, you realize.”  He said finally.  “I am also the angel of redemption.”

                “Uriel.  Yeah, I remember that from when I was alive, that’s what they all said about you.  But after I… uh, actually got to KNOW you, well… the whole ‘redemption’ part was sorta hard to see.”

                “It is always there.  It is just not the most evident part of my work.”  Spectre sighed.  “But yes, it was a part of my duties that I fear I… ignored for some time.   Or at least, did not take as much pride in.  Not like this.”  He gestured at the alleyway.  “My vengeance was always grandiose, my redemption quiet and unseen.  But the two exist contemporaneously, and cannot be separated.  I have always been as much about redemption as about justice.”

                “If you say so.”  Deadman had a slightly doubtful look on his face.  “But still.  What’s with the lady?”

                “Hyuuga Hinata?  She is an important instrument in the hands of the Almighty.”

                “Instrument?”

                “As we all are.  Both she and her friends will have much to do in the coming events, and it is vital they be prepared to face them.  The girl is my connection to them, so that I may warn and guide them through the trials they must face.”

                Deadman had a somewhat more pensive look on his face now.    “Okay.”  He said.  “Okay.  I think I get it.  But lemme ask you something.  What’s so important about all these guys?  What makes them so important to what’s coming?”

                “Because,” Spectre answered, turning back to the city, “they bear a power long lost to this world.”

                “Are you sure they’re all right?  I mean, it ain’t normal for them to go pussy-footing around each other all the time like what they’ve been doing.”  Cyborg stopped to consider a moment.  “Well, okay, I only known the guys a month, but it sure don’t SEEM normal.”

                “Of course it’s not normal for them.”  Robin did not turn from his position at the computer.  He and Cyborg were both sitting in the control room of the tower, doing their best to keep tabs on everyone, a task proving rather difficult at the moment.  “But think about it for a bit, Cyborg.  It’s only been a week since that whole crazy mess with the Yamanaka girl where everybody got yanked into everybody else’s mind.”

                “So?”

                “So?  Cyborg, they were instantly confronted with their teammates darkest fears, visions, and memories.  All of us were.  That’s bound to make them feel uncomfortable around each other.  Sure, the memories are a little hazy with everybody right now, but I imagine they’re more than enough to keep things awkward.”

                “I suppose.”  Cyborg gave an irritable shrug.  “Still.  All us Titans went through the same thing, and we’re not breaking up or nothing.”

                Robin cocked an eye at his mechanical friend.  “Cy, do you even remember the first few days after the incident?”

                “Well, we mighta had SOME issues.  But we got over those quick enough.”

                “That’s a difference in team structure.”  Turning back to the computer, Robin began to type in some commands, focusing the screen around a certain area.  “Our team is essentially like some kind of informal family—we all live, eat, and sleep together.  We handle each other’s problems, we deal with each other’s secrets… we’re pretty close to each other.”

                “Suppose that’s why you were quickest to recover, being super detective and all.  You probably knew half of the ‘dark secrets’ around this place already.”

                Robin shrugged.  “It helped.  But the point is, these ninjas aren’t like that.  Sure, most of them ARE friends, but it’s more a ‘battle comrade’ sort of thing.  Again, these guys are soldiers.  They’ve fought side by side through a lot, but because they HAD to, not necessarily because they wanted to.  In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of secrets in that group, and a couple of real tight-lipped introverts.  They trust each other, but they’re not necessarily as… close as we are.” 

                “So now that they got an idea of what the others are hiding, they’re scared of them.”  A chuckle broke loose from Cyborg.  “Never thought knowing your friends could be so scary, huh?”

                “It’s more than that.  Knowing so much about their friends also means that their friends know a lot about THEM.  They’re afraid what secrets of THEIRS might have gotten out.” Frowning suddenly, he added, “And it’s not just them, Cyborg.  Most of us Titans have been avoiding them as much as they’ve been avoiding us.”

                The reminder dampened Cyborg’s mood considerably.  “Yeah.”  He admitted soberly.  “But it’s not like we were really getting best buds with them BEFORE the whole thing.  If anything, I’d say I feel a lot more comfortable around Sai.”

                “Never thought to hear anyone say that,” snorted Robin.  “Still, that’s something to be thankful for.  You, Sai, and Hinata are about the only people who have an idea of what went on that night.  Well, J’onn too, I guess, but he’s not really part of the group.  The three of you have been largely keeping us from falling apart this week.  It’s a good thing criminals have been quiet recently, our teamwork lately has been horrible.  We need to re-establish some bonds with the ninjas and help them work their own issues out as soon as possible.”

                “That why you suggested Star take the girls to the mall today?”

                “Possibly.”

                “Slick man.  Very slick.  Inviting Raven may have been a stretch but still… nice.”

                Robin shrugged.  “Shopping is a near-universal expression of girl-hood.  I don’t understand it, but I can use it.  Raven could stand some team-building, and both her and Star going makes it a bond between teams more than just a bond between individuals.  That’s why I had all the ninja girls go also.”

                There was a slight pause.  “All of them?”

                “Yes…”  Robin half-turned.  He had a bad feeling about this.  “Why do you ask?”

                “Well… I can’t locate the Hinata one anywhere.”

                Robin sighed and leaned back in his chair, massaging his forehead.  “Now why doesn’t that surprise me.”

1^st Presbyterian Assembly of Jump City read the sign outside the building, and Hinata had to suppose that’s what the building was for.  It looked rather different than any of the temples or shrines she had visited when she was a little girl, but she had expected that.  In any case, it was certainly the same building she’d seen in the vision last night, so it must be the one she was expected to visit.

Gingerly she approached the doors.  The small, squat building certainly did not seem to get much attention.  The brick walls looked solid enough, but the white paint of the doors was flaking, and Hinata could have sworn that the steeple was leaning slightly.  The burglar bars over the stained-glass windows also seemed a trifle disturbing.

But still.  Building from the vision.  She had to go in.

Strangely enough, the door creaked open the moment she put her hand on it.  She glanced again at the burglar bars, shrugged, and went right in.  Inside, she found herself in a small anteroom of some kind, ringed with coat hangers.  Just beyond, there was a pair of simple white panel doors, which she pushed her way through to the wide room beyond.  Metallic folding chairs filled a long anteroom, facing a simple microphone at the end.  Streaks of sunlight streamed in the bar-darkened windows on either side.

At the moment, though, Hinata’s attention was fixated on the elderly man setting up chairs near the front.  He had paused when the doors had opened and now turned toward them.

“I’m afraid services aren’t until tomorrow, young lady.”  He said, fumbling for something in his coat.  “Sorry, my eyesight isn’t good without my glasses—is there something you need?”

“I… ah…”  Hinata glanced around hastily.  “I… I’m not sure, I was… Someone told me to come here… I don’t really know why, I…”

The old man frowned as he brought out a pair of glasses.  “Your voice sounds familiar somehow,” said he, putting them to his face.  “Are you perchance…  Ah…”  He smiled.  “Hyuuga Hinata.  Of course.  I suppose that’s why he’s here also.  Odd place to meet.”

With the glasses now in place, something about the old man finally clicked in Hinata’s mind.  “You’re...”

“Ah.  Reverend Norman McCay of the 1^st Presbyterian Assembly.  How do you do?”  He took her hand and shook it distractedly.  “Sorry for not introducing myself earlier.  Don’t mind me, I’m just setting up in here.  You’re here to see James, I take it?”

“Er… I don’t really know… I’m not sure what…”

“Yes, James can be like that.”  He agreed, nodding with a little sigh.  “Still.  Even if you’re not here to talk to him, I imagine he’ll want to talk to you.  This way.  I believe he’s in my office.”

Leading the way, the minister made for a small door in the rear that Hinata hadn’t noticed before.  He gave a few experimental taps on the door, then swung it open.  “James.”  He said briskly, “You have a visitor.”

A familiar red-haired figure in a green trenchcoat turned to face her.  “Yes.”  He said.  “I summoned her here.”

“Y-you summoned me?” asked Hinata, fighting back a swallow.

“I have been told my visions are disturbing, but I needed to see you quickly.”  Spectre stood to his feet and strode forward.  “You see, I must explain exactly why your assistance is so important.”

“Thanks for coming up to assist, Bats.”  Mr. Terrific did not remove his eyes from the screen.  “When it comes to interdimensional gateways, you’re the expert.  And this job really gives me the feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

Batman simply gave a nod as he entered the room.  “Things have quieted down in Gotham for a bit, this seemed like the best way to help.”  He cocked an eyebrow at Blue Devil, who leaned against the opposite wall.  “What’s he doing here?”

“Since he picked up on the difference in the Hyuuga girl, I’m getting the feeling that he might know more about this ‘chakra’ business,” explained Terrific.  “Whatever help I can get in this is welcome.”

“Indeed.”  Batman glanced through the glass.  “An organic portal… quite the original idea, Mr. Terrific.”

“More accurately, an organic projector, similar in design to Superman’s Phantom Zone device.”  Terrific nodded.  “Incredibly difficult, given Superman is reluctant to let anyone examine his device, and Kryptonian technology is ages ahead of our own.”

“Nor is it particularly organic.  Why are you taking this approach?  It doesn’t seem very efficient.”

“Given that the ninjas teleportation seems to have occurred via an organic ‘technique,’ it also seemed to be the most likely to match their dimensional signature.  And organic technology is no longer so elusive as it was.”  A distant smile crept across his face.  “The Imperium invasion did almost more good than harm, really.”

“Hm.  It still seems likely to take a while.”  Batman turned to face the scientist.  “Very well.  What’s the largest problem?”

Mr. Terrific glanced up at him.  “At the moment?  The power source.  It’s difficult, to say the least to find something to power like this, and even if you could, the power might make a great difference in where the portal opened up.”

“So properly use this device…”

“…I’ll need to power it with their ‘chakra.’”  Terrific turned and aimed a wry smile at the caped hero.  “You see the problem.” 

                “Seriously, dude?  What’s with the dinky knife?”

                “It is called a kunai.”

                “Kunai, then.”  The black girl waved, clearly uninterested in the distinction.  “But honestly.  How is it that the only weapon you’re carrying is a little dagger-thing like that?”

                Shino considered for a moment whether this discussion was worth continuing.  Something about this flying girl really got on his nerves.  “A throwing knife such as a kunai is very helpful for long-range attack, and also for unpowered short range maneuvers.  It can be used to stab, slash or block.”

                “Not arguing with that.”  The girl shrugged.  “But it kinda stinks at all three, if you ask me.  It’s not really long enough to penetrate well, you need to get unearthly close just to slash with it, and as for blocking…” she made a face.  “…the thing doesn’t even have a hilt!  It’s got to be one of the crappiest blocking weapons I’ve ever seen.”

                “Bumblebee,”  Aqualad called from his side of the building.  “That’s enough.”

                Bumblebee.  Perhaps that was the reason for his dislike of the girl.  Neither he nor his allies were particularly fond of bees.  Then again, her abrasive, confrontational manner did not help things easier.  She had been offensive enough on his first visit here, but this…  time had not improved matters.

                Fortunately Shino’s role in this mission so far had been minimal.  Robin had sent Kiba, Beast Boy, and he to track down a possible lead on Kid Flash—a reported sonic boom in Los Angeles.  Kiba had picked up the boy’s scent quickly enough, thanks to a piece of clothing submitted by a rather peculiar magenta-haired girl.  They had followed the trail to the waterfront, and finally to these docks.

                There Shino’s luck had ended, along with the team’s.  There were no clues, no trails, and no scents for them to steer by.  Robin had suggested they look up the manifests of ships that had docked within the target week, but largely the time had come for theorization.

                Which meant he had to provide the voice of logic against the harebrained schemes this ‘Bumblebee’ girl was proposing.

                “It just seems that you should carry more weapons.”  She was back.

                “Bumblebee…!”

                “We ARE our own weapons.  Each and every one of us contains an entire arsenal of techniques for short and long-range combat that render civilian or mercenary weapons automatically obsolete.”  Smiling thinly, Shino added, “Kunai are useful only used as a weapon of last resort.” 

                The girl snorted.  “I can see that.  Certainly don’t seem to be good for much else.  If you’re on your last legs, shouldn’t you have something more useful?”

                “A weapon,” said Shino, doing his best to remain calm, “is only as useful as the person who wields it.  I note you yourself carry only two small offensive weapons, ill-suited to stabbing or slashing.”

                Her face darkened considerably.  “At least they can block.  AND shoot lasers.”

                “Will you two cut it out?”  Finally cutting in, Aqualad shot both of them an irate glance.  “This whole thing is getting us nowhere.  Now, as I recall, we were discussing different ways Kid Flash might have got himself caught here.”

                “No chance.”  Bumblebee shook her head.

                This time Shino could not totally repress himself.  He snorted.  “You believe your compatriot incapable of failure?”

                “Heh.  On the contrary, failure is what he does best.  But he always pulls out of it, he comes back constantly.  At his speed, failures are just speed bumps, he can get over them.  It takes one really BIG screw up to take him down.”  She cocked an eye toward a surprisingly silent Kiba.  “You said there was a big fight here, right?”

                “From the smell of the place.”  Kiba nodded shortly.  “They’re at least a month old, but his scent is all over the place.  A bunch of others too…”

                “…could be simply dockhands,” suggested Beast Boy.

                “…and smoke.   A lot of smoke and fire.”

                “Odd, and rather suspicious, given that there is no sign of a fire, or even a report of one in the city’s fire department.”  Shino frowned.

                “Geez, kid, you can really smell all that?  From a month ago?”

                An insulted eyebrow cocked upwards on Kiba’s face.  “If you’re implying…”

                “No, if you say those’re your powers, I buy it.”  Bumblebee held up her hands placatingly.  “I mean, it’s a bit too incredible for someone to make up, so you’re probably on the level, but… seriously?  All that?”

                “This Kid Flash guy was all over the place.  And there were a lot of fires.”

                “Which like Shino said, is odd, because there were no reports.”  Aqualad glanced around.  “Maybe Kid Flash was trying to put them out and got caught then?”

                But Bumblebee was shaking her head.  “Not if he knew the bad guys were there.  See, that’s my point.  You can maybe catch Kid Flash… IF you can get him off guard.  And then you need to hit hard.  If he was in a long, drawn-out fight, there’s no way he could’ve lost.  At the very least he should have been able to high-tail it out once he realized he was losing.”

                “Kid Flash NEVER thinks he’s losing.”

                Bumblebee shrugged.  “He isn’t, usually.”

                “But apparently he did.”  Shino returned to the conversation.  “Aqualad’s allies cannot recall anyone speeding over the water here at the specified time, and Kiba says this is where the trail ends.  He must have either boarded a ship or one of your flying machines, neither of which he possessed, so he must have been forced onto one.”

                “Yeah… bad news about that.”  Beast Boy snapped his communicator shut.  “Robin and Cyborg checked and… there were no ships leaving that night, and no reported aircraft in this area.” 

                For a moment everyone just gaped at him.  “So you’re telling me that although Kid Flash WAS here, and now ISN’T here, there is no possible way he could have LEFT here?”  Aqualad looked about ready to cry.

                Beast Boy shrugged. “That’s… kinda what they said, yeah.”

                Shino narrowed his eyes.  Something about this seemed strangely familiar.  What was it?

                “Wait a second.”  That was the Bumblebee’s voice, but he was just barely paying attention to it.  “You guys were doing that… that… shit-and-shun thing earlier…”

                “Shunshin.”  Shino’s mind was elsewhere.  One of his allies was telling him something… Something about a familiar energy signature.

                “Yeah, that.  It’s like teleportation, right?  Could someone have done something like that?”

                “Not really.”  Kiba shook his head.  “You need chakra, and we’re the only ones who have it.  We hadn’t even arrived here when Kid Flash disappeared.”

                “But someone could still have done a teleportation couldn’t they?”  Bumblebee pressed on.

                “Yes.”  Shino answered, studying a beetle on the end of his finger.  “Yes, they could have.  And I think they may have done it before.”  Running through all the facts, he drew his conclusion and faced up to it.  “I think,” he said, standing to his feet, “that we may need to contact your earth’s Justice League.”

                “The League?”  Aqualad looked rather skeptical.  “Why?”

                “Because I have reason to believe that Luthor is responsible for your friend’s disappearance.”

                “There is something you must understand about worlds.”  Hinata could NOT look away from the man’s eyes.  “They are all, in one way or another, similar.  There is no such thing as a truly alienated world, a purely solitary world.  They are all alike on some level.”

                “Like what?”

                “Well, for one, they are all infallibly depraved,” snorted the angel.  “But that is my affair, not yours.  The point is that this world is actually not all that different from your own, despite appearances.  You could hardly have traveled here had that not been the case.  Your friends are, in many ways, quite similar to the people of this one.  Some have the same powers, others are similar in personality, a few even share similar goals.  And, of course, in simple terms of being, they are all human.”  He frowned a moment.  “Or Kryptonian.  Or Martian.  Or Thanagarian.”  He shook it off.  “Still, in terms of their souls, they are all very like you.”

                “W-well… yes.  B-but why is that… important?”  Most of what the man was saying seemed fairly obvious.

                “It is important to make the point to you that separated worlds are not so separate after all.  They are connected, linked, what happens in one may affect the other.  Events from your world came to affect this world.  And, conversely, events from this world have had and shall have a profound effect on yours.  Your two separate universes cannot remain separate for forever, they have too much in common.”

                Pausing for a moment, the angel’s eyes took on a somewhat more distant expression.  “In the beginning, your world and this had a great deal more in common.  The great Sundering had yet to occur, and the reflections were clearer, less twisted.  The people of both lived in better communion, the plan for both was much clearer, and both throbbed with the same natural energy.”

                “Do you mean chakra?”

                “No.  I mean something else entirely.  But chakra is nonetheless crucial to what I have to say, because it is closely connected to the reason of why you came here.”

 “So you need to use this chakra of theirs.”

“Problematic, to say the least, given that we know nothing of it.  I’ve been studying the prisoner we have in custody—Suigetsu, he calls himself.  Chakra flows through their body in a network, almost like a circulatory system.  Apparently, the network is able to split atoms and reform them at will—much like a nuclear reaction, but without the explosion.”

                “It stabilizes them?”

                “Apparently.”

                “So… these kids have apparently the ability to shape matter and energy as they choose.”

                “Essentially.  So far as I can tell, with enough energy they can create almost anything.  They can even manipulate the energy itself and apply it to…”

                “I know what their different abilities are.”  Batman cut him off.  “And I see how your explanation fits in.  But how do they do that?  That sort of stuff shouldn’t even be possible, theoretically.”

                “Exactly.  Theoretically, it shouldn’t be possible, and yet it’s happening.”  A wry grin crossed Terrific’s face.  “Which means on some level, the theory is faulty, but we don’t have time for that.  We need to know how they manipulate and use this energy, or better, how to reproduce it.”

                “But the only ones who would know that is the ninjas themselves.”

From his corner, Blue Devil gave a sudden gruff chuckle.  “I doubt they’d tell you…”

“Indeed.”  Batman gave no indication of being affected by Devil’s outburst.  “So it seems we will need to rely on what data we have managed to glean from outside observation.  What have you got, Terrific?”

                A few clicks, and a series of images, charts, and reports filled the screen.  “My own observations on the Suigetsu prisoner, an analysis of the battle with Superman, the results from my preliminary check of the ninjas, and theories about various facts that the ninjas let slip.”

                “Enough to work with.”  Batman nodded.  “I have a few things of my own, let’s compare notes.”

“Now let us go and visit the rooms of dressing!”

“Aw, c’mon, pig-chan, you heard her!”  Sakura practically pulled her blonde friend toward the doorway.  “You totally need to try on those jeans, they go great with your eyes!  And the jacket is SO you.”

For a former shopaholic, Ino seemed strangely nervous.  “I’ll… I’ll try on one Fore-head, but then can we leave?”

Sakura blinked.  “What?”

“There’s an awful lot of people here…”  Ino glanced nervously over her shoulder.

“Oh.  Right.”  Sakura’s manner changed instantly.  “Well… yeah.  We should probably grab lunch soon anyway.  Star!”  She called to the closing door.  “Do you know a place around here to eat?”

“Most assuredly, friend Sakura!”  The Tamaranian’s voice floated over the doorway.  “There is a cafeteria just outside where we may partake of pizza with the sauce!  Friend Robin enjoys it most profoundly, as does friend Raven!”

“I never said that.”  Glancing up from the bench, Raven shot a hard glare at the door.  “I said I didn’t hate it.”

Sakura shrugged.  “Okay, sounds good.  We’ll go there right after this, then.”

“Sure we will.”  Raven rolled her eyes.

“We will, I swear!” cried Sakura, holding up a hand in pledge.  “Just these last thirteen outfits, and then we’re done!”  She disappeared into her own room and hastily banged the door shut behind her.

“Oh, is that all?  What was I worried about then?”  Raven picked up her book and resumed reading.

“Friend Raven, do you not also wish to do the dressing up?”

“Fine like this.”  Raven grunted.

“Seriously, girl, you should buy SOMETHING besides that.  I mean, the hooded sweatshirt fits your ‘cloaked mysteriousness’ vibe, but you need to try at least ONE other thing.”

“She’s right.”  Ino’s voice now floated into the conversation.  “You really should have tried on some of those khakis we found back there, they would have…”

“I’m.  Fine.”  Raven sighed.  “I only bought the sweatshirt and jeans so that you people didn’t have to keep up the henge versions you made.”  She glanced down at herself and studied the muted grey jacket.  A twitch of a smile edged up her face but she ruthlessly repressed it.  “Bad enough you gave Starfire the tanktop and shorts, I didn’t need you guys hiding my costume all day.”

“By the way, that’s been bugging me,” called out Sakura.  “Why do, like, none of you guys have any… normal clothes?  I could swear that if I opened up, say, Robin’s closet, I’d just find a whole bunch of identical uniforms.  What do you guys wear when you go out on the town?”

“Just our uniforms.”  Raven shrugged.  “People here are kinda used to us.  The attention IS annoying, so this is better that way, but it seems an annoying way to handle it.”

“AH!  I look fabulous in this!”  Ino’s voice rose in exaltation.  “Let me see how it looks with the jacket.”

Shaking her head, Raven could not suppress a snort.  “Why are all you people so obsessed with clothing anyway?  Aren’t you ninjas?”

“What’s that got to do with it?”  Sakura’s voice took on a dangerous edge.

“Ninjas are supposed to wear black all the time.”

“How morbid.”  Raven could practically hear Sakura’s nose wrinkling.  “Whatever do they do that for?”

Raven shrugged.  “Helps them blend in with the surroundings.”

“That can’t work all the time.  What do they do in the day?”

Stopping to think for a moment, Raven had to admit, “They… probably wear normal clothes for disguise.”  Actually, now that she thought about it, Raven remembered Robin saying something about ninjas NORMALLY wearing civilian clothes to blend in.  The ‘black bathrobe costume’ (as he called it), was at least partially a carryover from Japanese theater, where the garments represented invisibility.

“See?  So we’re not so loony as you think.”  Now triumphant, Sakura’s voice floated over the door.  “Hear that Ino?  Shopping for clothes is good for fashion AND disguise!”

“Should count as training.”

Raven sighed and gave it up.  All the others were having a good time, who was she to spoil it by being reasonable?  Starfire hadn’t had a shopping trip in ages, and the Konoha girls obviously loved it, though that Hyuuga…

Raven glanced around.  “Hey.  Where’d Hinata run off to?’

There was a slight pause.  “Ummm…  Isn’t she out there?”

“I think she… she was with us when we were looking at the jackets.”  Ino supplied.

“Perhaps friend Hinata is still browsing in the department of jewels,” suggested Starfire helpfully.  “I think she said something about wanting to stay for the few moments to look at them.”

“The Jewelry department?  We were there nearly an hour or so ago, she can’t still be there.  OH!  Sakura, those earrings we saw would go PERFECT with this mahogany belt.”

“Ohhhhh I’ll bet you’re right.  Let’s go right there after this.”

“I thought we were going to get lunch.”  Raven reminded tactfully.

“Darn!  That’s right.  Okay, food first, then jewelry.”

“We’ll have to eat fast, though.  And we’ll need to find Hinata first, so she can come to lunch with us.”  Ino’s voice took on a somewhat more troubled tone.  “Though that may take a while…”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.  I’ll call up Robin and have him tell her.”  Rolling her eyes, Raven took out her communicator.  “She can meet us to eat.  Maybe then we’ll have some sensible conversation.” She added under her breath.

“Already you have noticed some strange things about chakra here.”  The man offered a sudden smirk.  “Things, indeed, that you should not have noticed had you never arrived.  You know, for example, that it is not necessarily found in all things.  You have noticed that it is not as easy to manipulate substances from other worlds.  And you have found that it is not essential to war.  However, the most important things you have learned have been the similarities.  Your Byakugan sees chakra, does it not?  What has it seen?”

Hinata struggled to think for a moment.  “Th-the strange man at the hospital—all lit up inside.  And me, that… thing you did to me.  I can see that.”

“Very good,” nodded the man.  “Now think.  What does my power share with that of the blue devil?”  At her blank look he sighed.  “Forgive me.  An unfair question, you still do not know enough to answer such a question.  Both he and I are spiritual creatures.  So is the ghost you saw.  Had you been using your Byakugan and had he been incarnate, he too would have been lit up with the strange energy you saw.  The girl Raven, also, has a draw upon this energy.”

 “Tell me,” continued he, apparently changing subjects.  “The boy Naruto—“ Hinata gave an involuntary start, “—carries a demon within him.  But you have observed, have you not, that this chakra is different from others.  Have you ever wondered why that is?”

                Again Hinata struggled for an answer.  “It’s… it’s because it’s the Kyuubi’s energy…”

                “True.  But chakra is chakra, an impersonal energy source.  Why should it look different than any other?”

                Hinata had no reply.

                “Because chakra is NOT an impersonal energy source.  And because Naruto’s energy does not contain merely chakra.”

                “Y-yes.”  Hinata grasped eagerly at the straw of understanding.  “I-it has the will… the will of the Kyuubi within it.  Na-Naruto-kun can’t access the chakra without releasing the will.  Because… because chakra isn’t only physical power, it’s…”  Slowly comprehension dawned across her face.

 “Exactly.”  The man nodded.  “The ‘combination of physical and spiritual energy,’ is that not what your people say?  In reality, what they behold is spiritual energy incarnate in physical form.  Thus you see Blue Devil, a spiritual creature incarnate.  Thus, too, you cannot behold the ghost with an ordinary Byakugan, because he is not physical.  Even with your Byakugan, you would not be able to see me unless I was incarnate, as I am now.  Do not try!”  He barked as Hinata’s hands rose automatically up.  “You would be blinded.  My power is far, far greater than any you have ever seen.”

“Y-yes sir.”  Hinata lowered her hands.  “B-but…  the stuff I see in you and the others… that’s not chakra.”  Hinata stated, then hesitated.  “…is it?”

“No.  It is not.”  The man smiled.  “Chakra is only a portion of true spiritual power, a divided, weakened form of the energy I and the other’s possess.  Thus it is fuller, more colorful, and less restricted than your normal chakra pathways.  In your world, the nearest counterpart would be demonic chakra, such as Naruto’s.”

“W-why is that?”

 “Well, to begin with, it is more than chakra, it is also intent.  But mostly, Kyuubi’s chakra is different from those of most because of its source.  When the one you call Rikudo Sennin defeated the Juubi…”

                “You know of Rikudo Sennin?”  Hinata gasped.

                The man gazed at her unblinking.  “Rikudo Sennin is known by many names on many worlds.  On this world, as on yours, he freed its inhabitants from a great slavery.  But, as on yours, the inhabitants did not want freedom.”

                “Not…”  Hinata tried to understand.  “What do you mean?”

                “Rikudo could not banish the Juubi completely because the people did not want him to.  They desired the Juubi’s power, and some even yearned for the comfort of its illusion.  Unable to banish it, Rikudo Sennin instead split it up into several demons, as you know.  What you see inside Naruto is a portion of the Juubi’s spiritual energy.  Other portions of it can be found in the other tailed demons or in certain members of the demonic bloodline, such as the Uchiha.”

                Hinata’s mind was reeling.  This was really more than she wanted to take on in one day.  “B-but… if Naruto’s chakra is a portion of Juubi… then what… where’s normal chakra from? ”

“What you see inside yourself…”  Spectre inclined his head slightly, “is the gift of Rikudo Sennin.”

                “A combination of physical and spiritual energy…”  There was just the faintest sign of distaste on Mr. Terrific’s face.  “So they don’t quite know themselves.”

                “Or at least they know that it is related to, though not dependent on, the person’s physical strength.  The spiritual could simply be related to the will of the person.”  Batman tapped a few keys on the computer and brought up the transcript of the initial meeting.  “Remember, this was during our first cordial meetings with the ninjas.  They might have been coloring the facts slightly.”

                Mr. Terrific considered it for a moment.  “Or simply be a way of expressing how the person is able to use and manipulate the ATP energy.  As in, the ability to employ an already latent power.  Power’s no good if you can’t use it, after all.   Otherwise, perhaps the process is caused by a undetectable psychic influence, which they consider the spiritual aspect.”

                “Possible.  J’onn managed to confirm that the blonde girl is a psychic of some kind.”  Batman mused.  “And that Sai seemed to have some blocking ability.  But from their comments, not everyone on their planet can use chakra, so not all of them would have that energy.  How would that psychic energy get there?”

                “Genetics, I imagine.  Perhaps the death of a very powerful psychic, an alien of some kind, could imprint the power on into their genetics somehow, say on a quantum level, allowing them to…”

                “For pity’s sake, Terrific!”  Blue Devil growled.  “Your ‘Quantum Level psychic energies’ mean essentially the same thing as their ‘spiritual energy.’  It means you don’t know what causes it.”

                Terrific closed his eyes momentarily.  “Yes and no.  Yes, I don’t know what causes it.  No, it doesn’t mean the same thing.  ‘Psychic energies’ are a delineated natural set of abilities that CAN be studied and explained.  ‘Spiritual energy’ means essentially nothing except that it cannot be understood.  Basically, I’m saying that we CAN understand where their power comes from, as opposed to merely giving it a nice label and walking away from it.” 

                “You can tell where it comes from.”  Blue Devil muttered, but otherwise subsided.

                “Anyway, quantum level mechanics are outside our workable range.”  Terrific shook his head, considering.  “And if they DO have psychic signatures, nobody would be able to observe it closely enough to find out how it works, since apparently even J’onn can’t work with it.  Essentially then, the ‘spiritual’ aspect of their power is irrelevant to our projector device.”

                “Focusing on the physical aspect, then—“ Batman quirked an eyebrow, “—have you done anything with those mitochondriac structures you noted earlier?”

                “I’ve managed to engineer a few models, and the projector model has them incorporated.”  Mr. Terrific nodded.

                “Good.”  Batman returned his gaze to the computer.  “Conceivably, that’s what processes all the ATP energy.  Now we just need to give it material to work from.”

                Naruto often felt afraid.  Not many people knew this, as he kept it firmly hidden, but it was still true.  Mizuki-sensei’s betrayal had badly frightened him.  He’d been utterly terrified throughout the battle with Zabuza.  The written part of the chunin exam had nearly killed him.  Orochimaru’s appearance… well, that had REALLY nearly killed him.  Even going up against Neji had had him scared for a while.

                He’d shrugged it off as a child, figuring that it would change as he would get older.  But it hadn’t.  In Naruto’s mind, the only thing more terrifying than the Gaara rescue mission had been his battle with Pain.  No… he could think of one thing more.  But he tried not to think about… that too much.

                Strangely enough, none of his battles with Sasuke had EVER scared him. 

That was because Naruto was never really afraid of the thing most people expected—that is, the battle itself.  Zabuza hadn’t scared him, Sasuke had, because Sasuke had nearly died.  The written exam had been frightening because of its effect on his teammates.  When he’d rescued Gaara, he hadn’t been afraid of Deidara, just afraid of what he’d done to Gaara.  No part of the battle with Pain had been nearly as frightening as when Hinata had jumped in.

                Of course, Naruto felt plenty of fear about dying too—he had rather vivid memories of Ero-sensei throwing him down a massive pit when he was twelve—but he was usually able to shrug past that.  It was always hard to figure out what exactly could and couldn’t kill you when you had a demon fox in your belly.  Still, the pain didn’t go away, and for all his bravado, Naruto was afraid of pain too.

                But Naruto had never let his fears stop him from doing anything. 

Which was why he was now moving, step after terrified step, down the hallway at a horribly brisk pace, seeking out Robin to help him do something he was deathly afraid of doing. 

He’d gone to the control room earlier to use one of the machines there.  As he had no idea how to work any of the things, he’d had to ask help from the only other person there, Cyborg.  Unfortunately, as jovial as Cyborg was, he had been rather adamant about needing Robin’s permission to help out with Naruto’s problem.  Why Robin had decided to hang out in the infirmary today instead of the control room, Naruto didn’t know.   It was terribly inconvenient, as he felt pretty sure they’d need to use the control room

Naruto rounded the corner to a rather unusual sight.  Covered in bandages, a somewhat disheveled Robin was tying a sizeable ice pack over one eye.  His other glanced irritably up at Naruto.  “How heavy are those weights on Lee’s legs?”

“Uh…”  Naruto blinked at the unexpected question.  “I dunno… he’s adding to them all the time.  Four hundred pounds, maybe?”

Robin yanked open a cupboard and began to dig about.  “What on EARTH does he put in them?  Radioactive isotopes?”

“Radio… I’m sorry, what?”

“Nothing.”  Robin sighed.  “Forget it.  I’m going to have to hand him over to a new trainer, I can’t teach him how to use that speed effectively.  Still.  At least he knows how to use a bo staff now.”  Grinning a little, Robin downed a few pills.  “Pretty good at it, too.  I’ll have to show him that one Bruce Lee  movie where…”

Naruto arched an eyebrow.  “Wait… you didn’t try to fight Lee without his weights, did you?”

Sighing, Robin rubbed a hand over his face and glanced up.  “Cyborg said you had a question.”  He answered.  “So ask.”

“Ah.”  Briefly Naruto wondered why Cyborg hadn’t just asked it himself.  “Um… have you seen Hinata?”

“Has anyone?”  Robin chuckled without humor.  “Not since this morning.  I sent her off with the other girls to the mall.”

“Oh!”  That had been surprisingly easy.  He turned to go.  “Thanks!”

“She’s not with them anymore, though.”  Robin’s voice stopped him.  “As a matter of fact, I’m not sure WHERE she is.  She hasn’t shown up anywhere on the location grid, and even looking at time records doesn’t do anything.  She just… vanished from the mall.”

“What?  You mean even those little bug-trackie thingies you’ve got on all of us can’t find her?”

Robin stopped and looked at him strangely.  “How do you know about those?”

“Shino found the one on him.”  Naruto shrugged.  “I just figured you’d put them on everyone.”

“Hm.”  Robin’s face was unreadable.  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Again Naruto shrugged.  “It’s pretty reasonable for you to keep tabs on us while we’re here.  We usually have ANBU tail foreigners in Konoha, so it’s the same principle.  Plus, if we did want to ditch you, it would be better if you didn’t know that we knew.”

“Except now I DO know, because you just told me.”

“Maybe I didn’t tell you everything.”

Robin’s mouth quirked.  “You’re smarter than you look, Naruto.”  He turned and began to feel about in the cupboard some more.

“Thanks?  I guess?”  Naruto frowned at Robin’s back. 

“You’re welcome.”  Carrying a fresh load of medication, Robin turned and sat down.  “Maybe you leading the others isn’t such a bad thing after all.”

“What?”

“Forget it.”  Robin waved.  “Go out and find your girlfriend.  Talk to Neji, he should be able to spot her if she’s still in town.”

“No, hang on.  What did you mean: ‘isn’t such a bad thing after all?’  Are you…”  About this time Naruto’s brain caught up to the other part of Robin’s sentence.  “Wait.  Girlfriend?”

“I said to forget it.  It’s not my business anyway.”

“It’s mine.”  Naruto glared at the bandaged teen.  “What do you mean?”

Robin studied him for a moment.  “You really want to get into this?”

“Heck yeah!  If someone thinks I’m a bad leader I wanna know why!”

“It’s not about you being a bad leader,” sighed Robin.  “It’s about you not being a leader at all.”

Naruto blinked.  “What?”

“Naruto, you don’t lead.  You inspire, you motivate, but you don’t actually lead.  You basically let them do whatever they want and figure it’s not your problem.”  Robin made a little gesture with one hand.  “You don’t really provide them with directions or orders, you just do your own thing and let them do theirs.”

“So?  Isn’t it good to let them make their own decisions?”

“Not to that extent.  A team is supposed to work together, they don’t just all do whatever they feel like.  A leader is supposed to provide the direction and impetus the team needs.  He’s one who brings the team together, who connects them into a single cohesive unit so that they can function well.  And Naruto?  You suck at teamwork.”

Naruto opened his mouth to argue but Robin cut him off.  “No.  You do.  I’ve seen you on patrol.  Your strategy consists of charge it by myself and get the others to stay back.  You insist on being left alone and you refuse to use ANY of your teammates talents, even when they would be helpful.” Keeping his glare firmly fixed on Naruto, Robin added.  “Remember that patrol two weeks ago?  I had you monitoring it from the CONTROL ROOM and you still told the team to stay out of it so you could charge out there.  If I didn’t know better I’d say you were grandstanding.”

Naruto’s eyes had just a touch of red.  “That’s not it.  They’re my team, I’m responsible for their safety, I can’t just…”

“Of course you can’t.”  With a slight bend of his head, Robin acknowledged the remark.  “That’s part of leading too, you’re right, and it’s good you know it.  But you take it too far.  You need to realize what your teammates can do better than you and LET THEM DO IT.  You need to give your comrades room to grow, allow them to face challenges.  Otherwise you’ll just end up isolating them and before you know it, they’ll be off on their own doing something crazy just to prove to you they CAN.”

Naruto fell silent at that.  His mind was running through images of a rain-slicked wood, filled with bodies and a red-eyed shinobi.  They’re not dead, you realize…

                There was an awkward silence.  “Well,” said Robin, finally pulling himself to his feet.  “You asked.  I’m going to go outside and just rest for a while, I don’t think I’ll be up to any more spars today.”

                “You’re sure you don’t know where Hinata is?”

                “I’m sure.”

                “Well, I kinda need to talk to her… do you know how I could find her?”

                Robin gave a dry snort as he pushed past into the hallway.  “I’m not ordering you around… work it out for yourself.”

                Glaring at Robin’s retreating back, Naruto resisted the childlike urge to stick his tongue out.  He’s just stupid sulking because he can’t beat Lee.  He thought.  Fighting him without his weights… HA!  That would have been fun to watch.

                Shaking away the ungrateful thoughts, Naruto considered a moment before settling down on the ground.  Slowly he blocked out all outside disturbances, reached out with his chakra…

                “AAAH!”  Naruto started upright, clutching his head.  “Oh my… oh my…”  Somewhat dizzily, he felt himself, touching his arms, legs, chest.  “Oh what a…”  He let out a deep breath.  “What on earth was THAT?”

                “First, you must understand that Rikudo Sennin was enormously powerful, even before he consumed the Juubi.  My power would merely blind you if you beheld my true form, his would assuredly kill you unless he desired otherwise.”

                Hinata inclined her head.  She had more or less assumed Rikudo Sennin

                “For all his power, however, Rikudo Sennin was unable to completely banish the Juubi, as it had been invited there,” explained  the man with a small shrug.  “As you mentioned, he split the Juubi into the Bijuu to weaken it, but he did more yet.  He gave your people the means to resist them by themselves.  The legends tell you, do they not, that Rikudo Sennin taught the world the ways of ninjutsu?  How to manipulate chakra, how to use the handseals, how to perform jutsus?  What they do not say—because they do not know—is that there was no way to do these things before, because before Rikudo Sennin, there was no chakra.”

                “Wh-what?”

                “Not chakra as you know it.  As I said before, both Earth and your world shared a similar natural vitality in the early days, an energy that could be found in all things living and unliving.  This could indeed be used to perform strange feats, such as those here might call simply magic.  Yet when your people invited in the Juubi, he consumed this power and glutted on it, sapping the life from your planet.  When Rikudo Sennin defeated the Juubi, he rescued a broken, dying world.  But he restored it nonetheless, by taking the Juubi’s energy and forming chakra.” 

The man smiled at her.  “Evil cannot be made as if it had never been, and what is done can seldom be undone.  Chakra was an echo, and only an echo, of the power your world and this once possessed.  But it was enough for what the Sennin desired.  It gave your people the power to repel the segmented parts of the Juubi, and perhaps even the full creature itself.  Also too, by planting this power in not only humans but the world around them, Rikudo Sennin hoped it might provide people with a subtle connection to each other and to the world around them.”

“The natural color of chakra, which you see within yourself, is the result of his work.  It was given to the ninjas not to be used as a weapon against each other, but against the Juubi.  Certain bloodlines on your world possess an even more special strain of chakra, specifically designed against the Bijuu.”

“What bloodline?”  Hinata frowned.  She had never heard of such a clan before.

“I believe they were called the Uzumakis.  Your friend is the last, but that is a talk for another time.  The point you must understand NOW is that chakra was designed to repel certain influences.”

                “You know…”  Mr. Terrific was frowning.  “…if the power is psychic, these kids might have a inherent defense against mind control.”

                “Against our forms, perhaps.”  Batman shrugged.  “In their own world, there’s only one form of mind control, and it’s nearly impossible to block—that Yamanaka girl’s ability.”

“None others?”

“They have techniques for manipulating the chakra in the brain.  But all that can do is create illusions.  Occasionally that can be used to control or interrogate others.  They need special methods to break free of something like that, though.”

                Blue Devil arched an eyebrow.  “Such as?”

                “They can either suppress their chakra or force it outward.  Either will destroy the illusion.  The former is preferred, as it is more discreet, but the latter is easier.”

                “That is… very detailed.”  Mr.  Terrific turned to face the crimefighter.  “Where did you find that?  It’s not in any of the data I gathered.”

                Batman’s expression did not change.  “Security footage I lifted from Titan’s Tower.  Caught a class the one Sakura was giving to the other nins shortly after the Ino incident.”

                “Spying on your apprentice, eh?”  Blue Devil shook his head admiringly.  “You are one sneaky…”

                “These are techniques used to break mind control?”  Terrific interrupted.

                “No.  Just the illusions.  There are few ways of breaking free from the Yamanaka mind control, as I understand.”

                “Hm.  Breaking illusions.  But how does that work, I wonder?  Why should chakra…”  Terrific lapsed into thought a moment.

                “Suppose,” he said finally, “suppose for a moment that the world these ninjas come from is permeated with chakra.  Not just the ninjas, but everything: trees, grass, earth, contain chakra in some form or another.”

                “Sounds likely.”  Blue Devil shrugged.  “Why?”

                “Such a permeation would give the ninjas an additional, if unconscious, sense of their surroundings, an almost sub-atomic connection with the natural world.”  Long fingers drumming against the control panel in concentration, Mr. Terrific frowned.  “Since the flow of chakra in the brain seems limited to the senses and not to motor skills, we may assume that the senses and chakra are closely linked.  Very likely, the atomic connection of chakra with nature and other things plays a large role in their enhanced sensory abilities.”

                “If you can call them that.”  Batman snorted.  “I was able to sneak up on the one big one.”

                Terrific ignored him.  “An illusion, then, when it manipulates the chakra, is seeking to create a false chakra signature of some kind a… a hologram of the mind, say.  It is providing atomic messages from things that aren’t there.  However, because the reason and motor areas of the brain are unaffected, if the victim realizes this, they still have options.”

                “The methods we mentioned.  So how do they fit in?”

                “Suppressing their chakra… I suppose that would be breaking the connection with the outside.  Simply ‘not listening’ to the false signals, in a way.  It would probably allow your body to identify the foreign chakra and expel it.  Pushing it outward though…”  Terrific again frowned.  “…perhaps… that might re-establish the natural connection?  Forcing the false chakra for a stronger connection than it can sustain, thus breaking it?  I’m not sure.  Very confusing.  Interesting though.”  He nodded.  “Extremely interesting.”

“I do believe you’re getting better at this, Mr. Nara.”

                “Not like I have much else to do around here.”  Shikamaru tried to block the man’s voice out, tried to concentrate on the board.  Though he couldn’t be sure, he felt almost as though the man was toying with him, deliberately playing poorly to gauge how far beneath him Shikamaru really was.  And even if he wasn’t doing that, he could still probably use the game to judge Shikamaru’s personality.

                “Well, you’ve certainly adapted toward using new fighting methods,” smirked the man.  “Granted, they don’t seem to be helping you any… bishop to F7… but it does show quick thinking and flexibility.  I’m almost impressed.”

                That was another thing about this guy, his annoying arrogance.  Shikamaru would have loved to burst his bubble of superiority if it hadn’t been, well, TRUE.  The man pretended like he was smarter than anyone else, and it was all the more troublesome because he was.  Even now, he was tearing his way through Shikamaru’s carefully falsified chess strategy.

                Though he really shouldn’t be so annoyed by that, because in a way, that’s what the falsified chess strategy was SUPPOSED to do.  Fail.  Mislead the man into assuming Shikamaru stupider than he was.  Hopefully, even cause him to make some kind of crucial mistake.

                “Rook to C8.”  Shikamaru finally decided.

                “An interesting move.”  Luthor studied the board.   “By the way, I’ve noticed your hands make a little twitching gesture when you’re thinking.  A habit of yours, or some kind of nervous condition?”

                “Habit.”  THAT, at least, could hardly be dangerous for Luthor to know.  “Or rather, an attempt at a habit of mine.  I normally steeple my fingers to think, but with my arms manacled, I can hardly do that, now can I?”

                An eyebrow slowly crept upwards on the man’s face.  “How fascinating.  Pawn to D5.”  For a moment he sat and watched Shikamaru lie in bed, fingers twitching.  “Mr. Nara, I do feel disappointed in being unable to play you at full capacity.  Suppose I offered to undo those hands of yours?”

                Though he managed to keep his head from jerking up, Shikamaru could not control the widening of his eyes.  “And why would you do something like that?” answered he, as casually as possible.

                “Partly out of a desire to play you at full capacity.  After all, your legs are bound already, and you have stated numerous times that you have no intention of leaving so long as you are kept comfortable.  Therefore, surely there can be no harm in making you more comfortable while we are playing.”

                Impossible that Luthor actually believed that.   “It’d be nice, if that was all there is to it.”

                “Ah, you are not easily fooled, are you, Mr. Nara?”  The man’s pleased tone set Shikamaru to cursing.  He should have acted more gullible.  “You are quite correct.  I would desire you to answer a few more of my questions.”

                Shikamaru considered it.  Giving any kind of answers to this man was dangerous, far more dangerous than anything he might glean from their chess games.  And Shikamaru didn’t ACTUALLY want to be playing at his best.  On the other hand, he couldn’t afford to let this man know that, and it would be better if he kept up the illusion of reluctant compliance.  And freed hands… Shikamaru could do many things once his hands were free.

                Plus, Shikamaru’s fingers were REALLY itchy.  So he nodded.  “I guess I don’t see why not.”  He yawned.  “What do you want to know?”

                “You’d interrupt our chess game for a round of questions?”  Luthor lifted a curious eyebrow.

                Shikamaru shrugged.  “I don’t seem to be getting anywhere on this one anyway.  A short break might help me look at it in a new light.  Unless you need to keep your focus on…”

                “Thank you Mr. Nara, but I’m more than happy to begin questioning now.”  Putting away his pad of paper for a moment, Luthor stepped up closer to the glass.  “First one then.  Where is your red-eyed friend?”

                This time Shikamaru managed to keep his eyes undisturbed, but his mind inside was racing.  Luthor was talking about Sasuke.  But how could he know?  Had one of the others told him?  But why not use Sasuke’s name?

                Shikamaru decided on a test.  “You mean Gennosuke?”

                “Yes.  Where is Gennosuke?”

                Ah-HA.  But how did he know about Sasuke’s eyes and not Sasuke?  “I’ve been sitting in a padded cell for the past three weeks, and you’re asking me?”

                “Very well, tell me what you can about him.”

                Shikamaru shrugged.  “What’s to tell?  He’s skilled, mentally unstable, fiercely independent, and doesn’t get nearly enough sleep.  It’s dangerous to be his enemy, it’s more dangerous to be his friend.”

                “All very interesting, but what can this friend of yours DO?”

                “Oh, that?”  Outright lies were no good with Luthor.  One had to dodge with half-lies and misleading truths.  “Well, he’s got about the same power level as the rest of us.  More skilled, of course—he picks up on stuff quickly.  Crazy fast too, those eyes give him enhanced reaction time.  Some people say he can shoot flames from them, but…”  Shikamaru offered a grin to the man, “Well, you know how stories go.”

                “Of course I do.  What else can these eyes of his do?”

                The man was definitely fixated on those.  How had he heard of them?  “Well, like I said, there’s lots of stories.  Some people say he can shoot fireballs, some say he can summon armor, some say he can…”  Shikamaru paused only an instant as a thought struck him, but he quickly covered it up and moved on.  “…well, you get the idea.  Personally, I think the eye only REALLY casts illusions and just makes people THINK they see all that stuff.”    Giving Luthor a little wink, he leaned back and nodded sagely.  “People lose their heads all the time in battle, they don’t really think about whether what they’re seeing is TRUE.”

                “I quite understand you.”  A small smile tilted the corner of Luthor’s mouth.  “Have you anything further to add?”

                “Nope.”  Shikamaru shrugged.  “Like I said, the guy’s crazy skilled.  And stealthy.  He doesn’t give out much on what he can do.  No one’s quite sure what to think of him.”

                “Really.”  The man’s smile remained unmoved.  “Shall I tell you what I think, Mr. Nara Shikamaru?”

                “Go ahead.”

                “I think that these Sharingan of your friend Gennosuke CAN ignite black inextinguishable flames, summon inpenetrable armor, and cast mind-control illusions on people.  I also think that these Sharingan are capable of crossing dimensional barriers if provided the right impetus.”  Smiling without humor, Luthor added, “Judging from the expression on your face, I also think that you were aware of all of this, and sought to mislead me as to his abilities.”

                With a blip, the screen disappeared, and Luthor stepped closer to the glass.  “Now, Mr. Nara, suppose we drop this little game and deal honestly with each other.”

“W-well… what does all this have to do with me?”  Hinata toyed nervously with her fingers.

Spectre sighed and considered a long moment.  “As I said earlier, Earth too once had this great energy.  They also lost it and shattered its true power.  A form of it—though not chakra—lingered on for some years within the earth itself and various artifacts of power, until at last Diaprepes king of Atlantis collected all that remained of it within the Trident of Poseidon and used it to repel the demon Ichthultu.”

Hinata blinked.

“Well…”  Spectre made an impatient gesture.  “The point is, Earth has no natural chakra.  The closest it has come from spiritual creatures such as myself and Blue Devil, and the occasional visitor from New Genesis.  Thus, Earth has very little defense against the sort of disaster chakra was created to prevent.”

“B-but… they’ve gotten along alright so far, haven’t they?”  Hinata looked to the door.  “I m-mean… if there’s been nothing before…  What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that such a crisis is approaching, and rapidly.”  Spectre’s eyes increased their intensity, if that were possible.  “Another has arisen here on earth, who wields power nearly tantamount to my own.  Already he is gathering his forces, preparing the final stages to his plan.  When he is finished, such a crisis shall befall this world as it has not seen in millennia, and I am not certain that I shall be able to stop him.  That is why I called you to me.  I knew that I should need the aid of your world to oppose this man.”

Hinata was a Hyuuga, trained to notice subtle hints, and something about the way the man said the last bit caught her attention.  “O-of my w-world?  N-not just me?  B-but… then… why didn’t you just call the others?”

The man’s gaze changed slightly.  “I did call the others, Hyuuga Hinata.  I called all of you.”

“Wh-wh-what d-do you mean?”  A suspicion was growing on Hinata.

“Surely you cannot think that you are all here, in this place, at this time, simply due to an battletime error on the part of your teacher?”  The man raised his eyebrows gently.  “As I told you, all events are connected, distinct time-space intervals irretrievably wound with others.  It is so with events, it is so with people, and it is so with worlds.  All things have their place  and plan within the plan, and cannot…”

Suddenly he broke off and glanced away.  “What is that fool doing here?”

Hinata had only the barest of warnings before the door burst open and a blur of orange streaked in.  A glowing ball of blue in its palm shot forward at the green trenchcoat, and there was a mighty explosion.

Slowly the dust cleared, and there in the office, facing a thoroughly calm Spectre over a shattered desk, stood Naruto.

“Get away from Hinata, you freak!”

“This theorization is all well and good, but you’re missing one thing.”  Blue Devil spoke up.  “The kid Naruto.  How do you explain that insane amount of energy he has?”

“Hm.”  Terrific nodded.  “A valid point, he is definitely an anomaly.  Do you have any suggestions?”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t listen to them,” snorted the demon.

“Probably not.  They would nonetheless be useful, though.”  Terrific eyed the other thoughtfully.  “The fact that you reacted to his presence does indicate a similarity in your conditions… perhaps your mutation has a chakra-like counterpart in the boy.”

“I keep telling you, these horns and tail AIN’T a mutation.”

“No, you tell me they’re physical attributes given to you by a demon.  However, even you admit that the horns and tail are merely physical and have no actual spiritual or even magical function.  That counts as a mutation.  If you want to call it a demonic-assisted mutation, fine, but it’s still a mutation.”

“It’s physically impossible for the boy to contain that much energy within that much space.”  Batman frowned.  “At least, impossible for a normal body structure, which our medical examination showed he was.  So we must assume he is getting the extra energy from another source.”

“Within, most likely.  He made comments during the meeting about having a fox in his belly… apparently where he believed this ‘demon’ to be.  That’s also where we saw the strange markings on his stomach.”  Here Mr. Terrific came to a halt.  “But… he doesn’t have room there.”

“Not by the theory you’re working from, anyway.”  Blue Devil agreed.

“That means somewhere we’re wrong.”  Terrific nodded.  “A surrounding aura of psychic power, perhaps?  But J’onn would have sensed that.   Perhaps the ink… but no.  Even if it was tightly packed energy, it would be impossible.  ”

“Even pure ATP energy tightly stored would take up far too much space,” nodded Batman.  “It would be more than three times the size of the boy himself.”

“Could it be, oh, I don’t know, a DEMON, like the boy suggested?”  Blue Devil asked sarcastically.

Mr. Terrific started to respond, then paused.  “An extra-dimensional force…  that might…”  he turned to Batman.  “Could the markings on the boy’s stomach serve as a dimensional gateway of some kind?  Similar to the one that brought them here in the first place?”

“It is… possible.”  Batman conceded after some thought.  “I’ve noticed some of the others store books, weapons, and random items within scrolls through the use of these ‘seals.’  A dimensional gateway would certainly make that possible.”

Mr. Terrific nodded.  “And if this Naruto had one specially infused into his system, it could theoretically supply his body with a dimension’s worth of chakra.  An extra-dimensional source…there would be virtually no limit.”

“That doesn’t explain his reaction to me.”  Blue Devil reminded them.

“Call it an extra-dimensional entity if it makes you feel better.”  Mr. Terrific rolled his eyes.  “The effect is the same in either case.”

                “Hm.”  Batman stood to his feet. “Interesting as this has been, speculation is largely pointless until we get more concrete information from the ninja themselves.  Explaining the circumstances may make them more willing to assist.”  Gazing at the projector, Batman added, “How exactly do you intend to use the chakra?”

                “That would be easier to know if I knew what chakra was.”  Terrific snorted.  “Ideally, I’d use it to power a replica of the original projector—say, a cloned version of this ‘Sharingan’ that they consider so powerful.  But the only person on this world with one is that fugitive Uchiha Sasuke, and there’s been no sign of him.”

                Robin saw the speedboat long before it reached the island.  Not many people went pleasure cruising out at this time, and even fewer found reason to come this way.  Tourists occasionally came, but this boat moved too swiftly and directly to be a sightseer.  It cut through the water straight for the island.

                “Robin…”  a voice crackled in his earpiece.

                “I see it.”  He assured Cyborg.   “Do you have a visual?”

                “Not yet… the angle is bad.  I can hit it with a repulsor shot, though.”

                “Negative.  Let it come in here.”  Robin eyed the boat.  “It looks like the owner wants something.”

                Slowly Robin made his way over the banks of the island, stopping before the tiny bay.  He waited on the dock as the small boat cruised over to the coast and began to putter toward him.  Behind him, he felt rather than saw Starfire float into position as the boat touched land.

                From the boat stepped a tall slim woman clad in purple, clutching a crossbow.  Her uncharacteristically disheveled hair hung over a pair of equally uncharacteristic anxious eyes.

                “Huntress.”  Robin nodded.  “What can we do for you?”

                “I need your help.”  The woman stated.  “Question’s missing.”

Chapter Text

“Shino?  Good, you’re back.”  Sakura bent over the mouthpiece. “Get down here right away, we’re trying to get everyone together.”  She turned back to face the purple-lingerie lady.  “Four days ago, you say?”

“Almost five.”  The lady appeared to be rather anxious, she kept fiddling around with her crossbow.  It probably didn’t help that Sakura, Robin, Cyborg, and Neji were all staring at her.  “He left around midnight, saying he had a lead, and that I shouldn’t wait up for him.  I didn’t think too much of it for the first few days… He can get a little absentminded when he’s on a case… but when it got to be  three days I got nervous.”

“Aaaaand… why did you bring this to us?”  Cyborg arched a critical eyebrow.  “Isn’t this more a League kinda thing?”

“Huntress doesn’t work with the League.”  Robin answered before the woman could.  “Question does, but something tells me this wasn’t a League mission.”  A piercing look entered Robin’s eye.  “But I’m rather puzzled by you bringing this to us too.  You’re a loner, Huntress, why aren’t you tracking him down yourself.”

Huntress glanced away uneasily.  “I’m… not in the proper condition to fight.  It’s too dangerous.”

The ninja part of Sakura’s mind filed away that uneasiness (as did Robin’s, from his expression), but the other part of her had more important matters to consider.  “You two had been tracking Sasuke?  All this time?”

“Question had.  I was just along for the ride.  He didn’t say who had ordered him to find Sasuke, just that it wasn’t the League.  I think I have a pretty good idea who it was, though.”

“So do I.”  Robin snorted. 

Though thoroughly confused by the exchange, Sakura had other matters to consider.  “Why didn’t anyone let us know?”

“If you recall, the League did not take kindly to our interference in this matter.”  Neji noted  “Even if they had known about this woman’s efforts, they would not have informed us for fear we would have involved ourselves.”

“With good reason, apparently.”  Again Robin snorted.  “You realize there’s no way I’m letting you guys out of here to go after him, right?”

“You realize none of us care?” snapped Sakura, turning back to the computer system.  “Go ahead and try to stop us if you feel so stubborn about it, there’s enough of us to handle you guys.”

She could nearly feel Cyborg’s glare.  “Boss…”

                “Let it go, Cyborg.”  Robin ordered.  “And Sakura, you should know you can’t afford any losses.  Last time you went up against Sasuke, you had your whole team and were meeting him on familiar ground.  You don’t know anything about Gotham and you’re down two members, what on earth makes you think you’ll be better off this time?

                Sakura’s fingers paused momentarily over the keys.  “He doesn’t have Suigetsu with him.”

                “Our chances are irrelevant.”  Neji added.  “Sasuke is a Konoha matter and must be handled by Konoha nins.”

                Huntress uttered a short bark of a laugh.  “More or less why I came here, I suppose.  Couldn’t call the League, since he wasn’t on League business, but I figured the ones after this Sasuke kid might be interested in doing a rescue mission.”

                “Miscalculation on your part.  These guys aren’t so much about rescue as assassination.”  That came from Cyborg.

                “We can perform rescues as well as anyone.”  Neji sounded almost insulted.  “Every precaution shall be taken to ensure the safety of this ‘Question.’”

                “Question?  That the guy who stripped me and tied me to a chair?”  Sakura turned just as Kiba entered the room, glaring around suspiciously.  “Hey yeah, this lady was there.  What’s going on Sakura?”

                “We’ve got a lead on Sasuke and we’re taking it.”  Sakura rose from the chair.  “Are the others here?  We’ll do a quick debriefing and then head out.”

                “Not in any Titan ships, you won’t.”

                Shrugging, Sakura responded.  “Fine then.  We’ll walk.  But if you’re really concerned about our survival, Robin, could you give me a hand with the scanner?  I can’t find Naruto or Hinata anywhere, and if we can’t find them soon, we’ll have to leave without them.”

                For some reason Robin seemed to find her request humorous.  “Even if I could help with that, I wouldn’t.”  He answered.  “Your teammate seems to have a talent for disappearing.”

                “No, Naruto-kun!  No!”  Hinata shot in between Naruto and the Spectre and held her arms out.  “He’s a friend!”

                “He’s a hulking mass of chakra is what he is!”  Naruto snarled.  “Signature nearly knocked me out from clear across town!”

                “You are not far from ‘a hulking mass of chakra’ yourself, Uzumaki Naruto, you would do well not to assume similar masses are inherently evil.”  Spectre eyed the boy disdainfully.

                “Shut it!  Last time I felt something like that was in Luthor’s base, and IT wasn’t friendly.  What the heck are you and what are you doing with Hinata?”

                “He’s not doing anything with me, Naruto!”  Spreading out her arms placatingly, Hinata attempted to calm the boy.  “I… if you need to know, I came here to see him.  I… I know him.”

                Naruto blinked, momentarily distracted.  “What?  You know this dude?”

                “I contacted her upon your arrival into this world,” nodded the other.  “It was essential that someone within your team be able to communicate freely with the meta-humans, just as it was important that I be able to relay my information to someone within your team.”

                “You mean you… she…” Naruto’s eyes flickered from one to the other.  “Hinata, have you been spying for this guy?”

                “Do not be ridiculous.”  Spectre’s scorn flashed out before Hinata could voice her distress.  “I am the Spectre.  All things are open to me.  I do not need ‘spies.’  I selected her as an intermediary to inform your people of why they were needed.”

                “An inter… okay.  I see.” 

Naruto’s face showed all too clearly that he did NOT see, but at least he wasn’t accusing her of spying anymore.  Somewhat relieved, she lowered her arms.  “I met him in the park on the day you fought Superman.”  She explained.  “He helped me find you.  I met him again that day we went out for ramen.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“I… I…”  How was she supposed to explain that she’d been worried what he’d think?  “I didn’t… that was the same day as the… thing with Ino…”

“Oh.”  A guilty expression flashed across Naruto’s face, reminding Hinata of Naruto’s own painful aversion of the topic.  “Never mind then.”  He turned to the man.  “So what are you, anyway?  What’s with that massive chakra?”

“As I was just explaining to your friend, it is not ‘chakra.’  However, since you ask, I am the archangel Uriel, who stands within the Second Bloom of the…”  He stopped at the glazed expression on Naruto’s face and sighed.  “I am called Spectre.”  He amended.  “And I am an angel.”

There was still some glaze left over Naruto’s eyes.  “A what?”

“He’s very powerful, Naruto.”  Hinata explained.  “He’s a little like Kyuubi, except he’s good and doesn’t destroy villages.”

“Oh!”

“I am NOTHING like Kyuubi,” protested the indignant angel.  “Kyuubi is a twisted division of a being of pure evil, I am a messenger of the Almighty, sent to…”

“He called me here today because he needed to tell me some… stuff.”  Hinata glanced anxiously at the trenchcoat-clad man, who appeared to subside at her words.  “We were nearly finished when you came in here.”

“He needed to tell you stuff?  What kind of stuff?”  Naruto peered around her at the angel, eyeing him distrustfully.  “And why should she listen to you anyway, buster?”

Spectre acknowledged the comment with a mild tilt of his head.  “Because I am the one responsible for your presence on this world.”

Naruto’s mouth dropped open.  Hinata turned, her mouth also agape.

“I see I still have some explaining to do,” muttered the angel.  “Perhaps you ought to be seated.”

                “Bruce, there’s a message coming in.  Recognition code says it’s from Robin”

                “Hit play.”  Batman ordered, looking up from his microscope.  “And put it on speaker.”

                With a curt nod, Wonder Woman tapped the appropriate keys on the control panel.  Her few weeks in Gotham had taught her a great deal, and she’d acquired certain skills—such as computer management and crime investigation—that she hadn’t had opportunity to develop before.  More and more regularly now she went off on her own, instead of being accompanied by Bruce everywhere.  She wasn’t sure whether she liked the change or not, but so far her time had been most productive.

                ‘Robin’ however, she had yet to meet, and it was some curiosity that she listened to the terse voice issuing from the computer.  “Bruce.”

                “Dick.”  Batman replied, still fiddling with the microscope. 

                “I’m sending this from the Titan flier.  We’re currently headed toward Gotham.”

                Glancing up sharply, Batman frowned.  “And why is that?”

                “Huntress came down to the tower with a message, said Question’s missing.  She told the ninjas that they’d been tailing Uchiha Sasuke.”  The voice took on a slightly insinuating tone.  “I assume that was your idea?”

                Diana shot Bruce a stern look but he took no notice.  “I didn’t know Huntress took on partners, at least not teenagers.”

                “Apparently she’s not fit to go superheroing herself and thought the ninjas would be interested.”  Wonder Woman could almost picture the shoulders shrugging up and down.  “Guess what they decided.”

                “And you let them?”

                “Didn’t LET them do anything.  They were going with or without us, I figured that they’d have better chances if we were at least along.  And I got Cyborg to delay arrival too… I’d hoped to keep them from using the planes, but apparently the one Neji has been studying them a bit.  Still.  You’ve got fifteen minutes, tops, before we arrive in Gotham.”

                “Sasuke’s here, then.”

                “Yes.”  Cold, clinical.  To the point.  Every inch Batman’s apprentice.  “Some of the ninjas can detect this chakra, they should be able to find him quickly.  From what I’ve heard, none of them are Sasuke’s equal, but they have enough to get a good-sized brawl going, so… I just thought I’d let you know.”

                “The ninjas aren’t aware of this message, then?”

                “No.  They think I’m just up front here being sulky.”

                Diana suppressed a grin.  Definitely Batman’s protege. 

                “Very well.”  Starting at the sudden voice at her shoulder, Diana turned to see Batman leaning past her toward the control panel.  He tapped a few keys and a corresponding screen lit up.  “We’ll be aware.  Keep the ninjas attention frontward.”

                “Understood .”  The radio clicked off.

                Diana turned on the caped crusader wrathfully.  “You had Question track down the fugitive one?”

                “He was going to be a problem sooner or later,” returned Batman.  “It seemed best to start on it while the trail was fresh, and Question was available.”

                “Uh-huh.  And why didn’t you at least bring this up to the others so we could have, I don’t know, VOTED on it?”

                “It was a trivial detail that might not have come to bear anything for a while.  I deemed it better to bring it up once Question had actually found something.”  With a few last strokes on the computer, Batman nodded and turned away.  “Also if I’d brought it up then, prevailing prejudice against Question would have defeated it.”

                “Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, hm?”  Diana sighed.  “It almost bothers me more that I’m not surprised.  And what was that business about ‘keeping the ninja’s attention’ about?”

                Batman was already stalking across the cave floor.  “The ninjas ARE our best chance of locating Sasuke right now.  We can’t let them actually engage him, but we can use them to track down his exact position.”  He jumped toward a ladder and began to climb.

                “We’re following them, then?”

                “Of course we are.”

                “…doesn’t do anything like that.”

                “Are you sure of this?”

                Shikamaru rolled his eyes.  “Of course I’m not SURE.  He’s an enemy, for crying out loud, it’s not like he tells his techniques to ME.  But I fought him and he never used anything like that.” Of course, Shikamaru had NO intention of mentioning Kakashi.

                “Very odd indeed, Mr. Nara, as my sources tell me definitely that he HAS used the teleportation device, several times.”

                “Well then ask your oh-so-definite SOURCES how he does it!”  Shikamaru would have thrown his hands up in frustration if they hadn’t been manacled to the bed.  “I don’t know how he does it, and personally I don’t think he does.  Anyway, if he COULD shift between dimensions, what makes you think he’d still be hanging around THIS one?” 

                “He has not.  I would know.”

                “And how, exactly, would you know that?”  Already Shikamaru’s mind was reforming, adapting itself to the setback.  Luthor seemed unusually insistent on the eyes, they were a weak point, Shikamaru could exploit that.  He also seemed unnaturally sure of himself, something that aroused Shikamaru’s suspicions.  “You don’t even know where the guy is or how he does this thing, assuming he even does it to begin with!  If you’re so sure he hasn’t teleported out, than that only means that he can’t.  That guy has got NO reason to continue hanging around a world full of wackos like you.  And if he can’t, that means you’re wrong, and that this whole stupid obsession with him is pointless.”

                “It is far from pointless, Mr. Nara, and I tell you he would NOT leave.  His section would be drawn to mine, the equation naturally seeks completion.”

                Shikamaru barely blinked at the curious wording, but he noted it nonetheless.  “Or maybe it isn’t, and you’re just wrong about the whole thing.”

                “Wrong?  No.  No, not wrong, Mr. Nara.”  A cold chuckle escaped Luthor’s lips.  “No, I have never been more sure of anything in my life.  You know something, even if you do not yet realize it’s significance, and I will not allow your ignorance to stand between me and my ultimate ambition.”  His eyes glittered as he leaned closer to the glass.  “You will tell me what I want to know.”

                Shikamaru snorted, realizing both his position and the potential inherent.  “And how, exactly, am I supposed to do that, when I don’t even know what it IS that I know that is so significant?  Or even what is so significant about the whole deal to begin with?”

                There was a slight pause as the man regarded him narrowly.  Shikamaru did his best to appear frustrated and confused, as if completely unaware of the importance of his question.

                Finally the man gave a little chuckle, and spoke.  “You really want to know the stakes you’re playing for, boy?  Very well.  Let me tell you a story…”

                “Bathroom.  Bathroom?  Bathroom!”

                “Through that door, but it’s not really a…”  Robin trailed off as Huntress shoved her way toward the back.  “…whatever.”

                Kiba, from his seat, grinned.  “Jeez, Cyborg, you oughta fly slower for the lady or something.”

                “Hey!”  Cyborg glared back at the dog-nin.  “My flying is fine!  She’s probably just airsick of something.”

                Robin was eyeing the door thoughtfully.  “There’s nothing in her league history to suggest it…”

                Personally, Chouji was just glad the lady was out of their hair for a few moments, even if the sound of retching from the bathroom DID sound rather painful.  She’d been pacing and asking all sorts of bothersome questions and had even complained about the smell of his potato chips. 

Seriously, the smell?

Chouji leaned back and stared outside.  The clouds were whizzing past his window, thin bits of wispy fog being ripped apart by their sleek jet.  He wondered what Shikamaru would think of viewing the clouds from up here, and whether he would like it.  Personally he doubted it.  Shikamaru had always enjoyed the slow movement of clouds, being up in a plane where they whipped past would probably ruin the point.

Chouji wondered what Shikamaru would think about a lot of things, particularly the mission they were on at the moment.  The last time they’d done something like this, he’d led them, and while Chouji trusted Sakura—she WAS one of the Sannin apprentices, after all, it wasn’t like anything he had with Shikamaru.

Whatever.  He didn’t know.  He didn’t know what to do about ANYTHING, really.  Shikamaru was gone and Ino was… well, she was better, but still out of it a lot.  Without the one to guide him and the other to boss him around, Chouji was more or less lost.  He just sat around until someone—usually Sakura or Robin—gave him something to do.

Pretty much what he was doing now—just sitting in one of the rear seats and listen to what was going on in the front.

“Now entering Gotham City.”  Cyborg’s voice broke in on his thoughts.  “Hope y’all enjoy the scenery, hosts the finest smog-choked skies in the country.”

“Bludhaven is worse.”  Robin objected.

“Whatever.  We’re here.”  Sakura cut both off with a  wave of her hand.  “Now I was going to ask Huntress where her boyfriend was, but since she’s out…”  She turned to Neji.  “…see if you can locate Sasuke’s chakra anywhere in the area.”

Neji nodded and brought up his hands.  “Byakugan!”  Almost immediately the veins around his eyes bulged and his head jerked convulsively.

“Are you well, youthful rival?”  Lee eyed his teammate, noting a strange vagueness to his gaze.

“I’m… alright.”  Neji responded, putting a hand to his head.  “It is merely… disorienting to be traveling so fast.  Ah.”  He pointed.  “There is a dim source of chakra in that direction.”

“That was fast.”  Robin glanced at the nin.

“Locating a chakra signature in a city empty of it is much easier than identifying a particular person,” explained Sakura.  “Alright, Cyborg, take us off that way.  Now everyone, remember the plan.   Sasuke uses his eye-powers a lot, so your best chance is to stay out of his line of sight.  We’ll attack  in a circle formation…”

Neji’s voice cut into her speech.  “We have a problem.”

Sakura glanced up.  “What?”

“There is a plane pursuing us at a distance of fourteen miles or so.”

“There are a lot of commercial flights through Gotham…”  Robin offered.

“It is flown by our ‘Batman’ acquaintance.”  Neji shook his head.  “And he is accompanied by the woman my other teammates fought before.”

“Crap.”  Sakura hissed.  “How does he do that?  I mean, I knew he lived here but…”  Shaking her head, she turned and faced the others, deep in thought.  Finally she pointed.  “Chouji.  Sai.  Follow me.”  Without pausing, she walked straight towards the back.  “Cyborg, cut the engines a little.”  She called  “Let that jet get a little closer.”

Shrugging, Chouji pushed himself from the seat and climbed after her, to be followed somewhat more hesitantly by Sai.  They stopped before a ramp and a rather ominous-looking ceiling hatch.

“The wind will tear you to shreds out there, so you have to do this quickly.”  Sakura explained.  “Chouji, I want you to bring that jet down.  Sai, you fly down on one of your ink things and back him up at the crash site.  Slow down those two for as long as you can.”

The two gave a short nod, though Sai looked a trifle worried.  He kept darting anxious little glances at Chouji.

“Okay.”  Sakura poised her hand over the release switch.  “On ‘three.’  One, two…”

Chouji’s feet bounded over the metal, up the ramp and out into the air.  He felt the wind tearing at his skin but paid it no heed, his hands were already flying into the seals.  “Cho Baika no Jutsu!” 

His body ballooned outwards, swelling to nearly three times its former size.    The sensation was always curious, it really felt as though the world about him grew smaller, more cramped.  In this case, he definitely noticed the space between buildings shrinking, but to his astonishment did NOT feel the reassuring weight of the ground underneath.  Gotham City was much higher than Konoha.

He scarcely had time to think this before the small, sharp black jet clipped his shoulder.  The pilot must have been incredibly talented to avoid his massive bulk at such short notice, but he had been unable to miss him completely.  Chouji watched in satisfaction as the plane hurtled earthward, smoking.

His satisfaction immediately turned to chagrin as a red and blue blur of feminine fury shot at him.

                “It is difficult to know exactly where to begin,” said the Spectre, calmly addressing Hinata and the suspiciously hovering Naruto.  “As I have said, all events are connected and interdependent, therefore to truly understand any event, you must understand all.”

                “Of all the…”  Naruto began, but Hinata quieted him.

                “As that is scarcely possible, I suppose I should begin with the convergences.  Some time ago, in the space of two of your years, I witnessed a dim—a connection, as it were, with another world.  Such connections are not uncommon, indeed, there are many more than people suspect, but this was rude and blatant, obviously artificial.  Such connections can be dangerous.”

                “So… what did you do?”

                Spectre blinked at Naruto.  “Nothing.”

                “What?”  Naruto blinked back.  “But you just said they were dangerous!”

                “They are.  Very dangerous.   Artificial convergences can create rifts within worlds, or even the dimensional fabric itself.  More commonly, they knock both worlds away from their appointed places.”  Spectre frowned.  “Or at least they seem to.  No world is ever truly out of its appointed place.”

                “But…” spluttered Naruto.  “If they’re so dangerous… you knew about it, and you didn’t… DO anything about them?”

                “The curse of an angel is that he knows everything and can do nothing,” spoke a voice from the doorway.  Naruto and Hinata turned to face a bemused Rev. McCay.  “Just as the curse of man is that he knows nothing and believes he can do anything.”

                Spectre inclined his head.  “The convergence was meant to happen.  I witnessed it but it was not appointed to me to interfere.  However, it was appointed for me to investigate.”

                “D-didn’t you know who it was?”

                “I did not.”  There was neither embarrassment nor frustration evident on the angel’s face, just calm acceptance.  “Nor do I completely know now. Norman is not entirely correct, angels are not all-knowing.  We know only what we are given to know, that is all.  In addition, the source of the dimensional disturbance was shielded by a powerful force, one nearly as great as my own.  Naturally, this discovery only made my investigation more paramount, but for some time I was unable to determine anything.”

                “We’ve been at this for days.  So far you’ve been unable to give me anything useful.”  Sasuke muttered to the faceless man sitting across from him.  “What does it take to get this through your skull?”  Casually, he brought up Kusanagi and touched it to the man’s neck.  “Why were you following me?  What do you know?”

                Sasuke couldn’t even tell if the man blinked.  “Cranberry sauce wasn’t at the first Thanksgiving.”  He answered.  “It was added by Masonite mystics to alter the American bloodstream.”

                 Sasuke sighed and sent a bolt of charged electricity along his sword straight into the man’s nervous system, manipulating it up and down his nervous system, making sure to especially stimulate crucial points along the body.  It was one of the more delicate tricks Orochimaru had taught him, but these days he mostly just used it to alleviate boredom.

Finally Sasuke released the lightning and whipped his sword away, letting the man slump in gasping exhaustion against his bonds.  “I finally find someone who speaks clearly and all he does is talk nonsense.”  He muttered.  “I can keep this up for a while, you know.  My genjutsus don’t seem to have quite the effect they once did, but I’m more than capable of replicating their illusions in real life.  Tell me what I need to know.”

The man’s breath was spasmodic, gasping, but he managed to grit out: “Hanes socks aren’t 20% polyester.  At least 0.05% is made of minerals collected from crop circle corn fields.”

Sasuke sighed and sent the charge again, this time not even bothering with the sword.  “You should consider yourself fortunate that I’ve been so bored lately.”  He told the screaming man.  “I might have Tsukiyomi on you by now if there was anything I needed to know instantly.  As it is, I have plenty of food and plenty of ammo, and all the time in the world.  Even experimenting with my Sharingan has gotten dull.  So this is amusement, really.”  He let off on the electricity and watched the man slump against his restraints.  “Now.  Tell me your purpose.  Your name.  ANYTHING useful you might know.  Tell me.”

“Topically… applied… fluoride… doesn’t… prevent… tooth…"

“This is getting rather bothersome,” snorted Sasuke as he shot electricity into the man’s nerves once more.  “You know, I might feel more concerned about who sent you if they weren’t likely to be helpless incompetents like yourself.  Even if they do send someone after you, I doubt they’ll be worth saving.  Perhaps I ought to…”

Sasuke was broken off in mid sentence as the walls around him exploded.

                “Several years ago, I acquired a good deal of power.”  Luthor casually buffed his fingernails on his labcoat as he spoke.  “How or what amount does not matter, suffice to say that I became… assured of my position.  Immovable, as it were.”

                Tenten really had no idea why the man was blathering on.  All she had been doing had been their arranged weapons-testing session for the day.  When Luthor had first walked in, she’d assumed he wanted to start questioning early, and had resolutely sworn not to say anything till she was finished with practice. 

                Fortunately, his initial questions had been rather meaningless—all about some guy named ‘Gennosuke’—and when he’d grown irritated with her silence, he had decided to fill it by telling her exactly why it was so important he find this ‘Gennosuke.’

                Tenten did not particularly care for Luthor’s reasons.  This was not heart-to-heart time.  This was weapons practice.

                ‘Weapons Practice’ was a tightly controlled regime, as Tenten had expected it to be.  She was strapped to a  chair, arms, legs, and head immobilized.  Each weapon, in turn, was attached to the front of one of the chair’s arms, where it locked into place.  She could not move it, twist it, or even look along it very well.  She could only press the trigger and watch it fire. 

                Regardless, Tenten was in heaven,  and not about to be pulled out of it by some bald-brained inquisitor who thought she had nothing better to do than listen to his stories of greatness.

                “You’d think that, having obtained such power, my first act would be to use it against my enemies and catch them off guard.  But events have taught me not to underestimate the Justice League, and they seemed likely to remain complacent for a while.  So instead I focused on consolidating my power, and working toward the ultimate completion of my aims.”

                Tenten beckoned eagerly with her finger as a new weapon was brought forward.  She remembered this one!  Rapid fire, explosive rounds.  Not incredibly accurate, partly due to recoil, but still… amazing.  The things she could do with something like this.  If only her hands were free…

                “You must understand Miss Tenten, although genetically I am human, the sensation of being a god is not wholly new to me.  Most of my new powers were fairly basic: teleportation, transformation, terraforming, things of that nature.  Brainwashing too, though I have received mixed results with that.”  She saw him frown momentarily.  “However, as I said, I was discrete in the use of my powers, preferring to work through mortal means.”

                Firing off a few rounds, Tenten frowned.  Something was wrong.  The balance on this gun was off.  It had always been inaccurate, but now the explosive range was nearly a full foot larger than earlier.  How was that possible?  As much as she could, she craned her neck around to study the gun.

                “Although successful in avoiding the League’s attention, all my power could not find me the one thing I sought… the final completion of my power.  You see, Miss Tenten, my power stemmed from a simple equation, but the equation was not complete.  A crucial piece was missing, and without it, true godhood was denied me.”

                Now she saw.  The idiots had removed one of the side air circulators, throwing off the balance.  They’d done this before, she guessed to mess with her knowledge of the gun’s capabilities.  Now that she felt it, there was a touch more stiffness in the firing mechanism.  They must have gummed it up with something.

                “Countless experiments bore no fruit until, one day, I felt something.  A tug at my mind’s eye, you might say, as if somewhere, the missing piece had reached out to me.  Things yearn to be whole, Miss Tenten, and the missing piece of the equation KNEW it was meant to be with me.”

                A few more shots.  Tenten frowned again with irritation.  This was seriously messing with her aiming.  Plus, the alterations to the gun couldn’t be healthy for it… extra friction meant extra heat, and with one circulation vent missing already….

                Suddenly Tenten grinned, an idea forming in her head.

                “It took me a while to identify the pull, and reach out to it in turn.  Imagine my surprise, therefore, upon discovering that the pull came from another dimension.”

                The debris will give us a few seconds of cover.  Sakura  reflected as she dashed over the ground.  Effect virtually negligible in light of Sasuke’s Sharingan, which will allow him to see the chakra networks.  However, will keep him from employing Amateratsu during intial phases.

                Her hand flew to her pouch and a few smoke pellets fell into her hand.  Whatever this world’s shortcomings in soldier pills, they made some mean smoke bombs.  She scattered them in a wide arc, hearing satisfying pops as her comrades did likewise.

                “Contact.”  A monotone sounded off somewhere ahead of her, and Sakura shot towards Shino’s voice.  The disadvantage of the smoke screen was that they could not see Sasuke, while Sasuke could see them.  The circle formation they’d landed in would keep him from escaping, but the first to meet him needed to let the others know.

                So far, the plan had gone rather well.  The only hitch was that Sasuke had not cast a genjutsu, as she had expected, but perhaps the surprise, in accord with the smoke, had rendered that impossible.

                Unless he had cast a genjutsu…

                Sakura shook her head and took another leap toward the sounds of battle.  She’d been hanging around Sai too much.  There had been no chance to cast one, and her back-up plan would have taken care of it if there had.    No, this was real.

                She burst through the final wall of smoke to behold  Shino and Lee double-teaming Sasuke, who was throwing fire-balls left and right.  Part of Shino’s coat was singed, indicating a rather costly encounter.  Lee, she noticed with annoyance, was still wearing his weights.

                Neither Lee nor Shino so much as glanced at her, but Sasuke noticed her nonetheless.  Almost lazily, he shot her with a bolt of electricity, knocking her flat on her back.  The distraction was enough for Lee to land a roundhouse to Sasuke’s stomach, but he recovered quickly and  the fight resumed it’s normality.  A blur announced Kiba’s entrance to the battle, but Sakura did not hope for much from him.

                “Lee… take the damn weights off!”  She shouted, standing to her feet.  “Remember last time?”

                Paling, Lee leapt back, dealt a sharp blow to each leg, and whipped back into the struggle, leg covers dropping to the ground with a clang as he did so.   A green blur filled the air, knocking Sasuke back a few paces.

                Sakura grinned.  The whole key with Sasuke, she knew was to bring him down quickly.  Overwhelming force, applied at a single point, might be able to take Sasuke down before he could bring some of his stronger—and more disastrous—jutsus to bear.

                Sakura was not a Shikamaru.  She knew this and accepted this.  It bothered her a great deal that they did not have Shikamaru with them, just as it bothered her that they had been unable to contact Naruto or Hinata about the attack.  Sure he was out two partners.  Sure, they had the Titans along with them.  That didn’t change that the last time, when they’d attacked with Shikamaru AND Tenten AND Hinata AND Kakashi(toward the end only, but even so…), they’d still gotten beaten.

                And she hated that.  She hated it, because if anyone deserved to die from Sasuke, it was her.  She’d been unable to stop him, she’d kept the others from killing him before he grew to be… what he was, she was responsible for his falling.  If it’d been at all practical, she would have gone up against Sasuke herself.  But she’d tried that before, and not only had it failed, it had warned her teammates never to let her try it again.

                So she was stuck trying to make a plan where as few of them died as possible.

                She felt someone land directly next to her.  “Target secured.”  Robin whispered. 

                “Good.”  She nodded.  “I didn’t think he’d see you, with the smoke and our chakra signatures and everything.”

                “A little touchy at the beginning, but yes.”  Robin frowned.  “If he’d tried to hold him hostage, we’d have been sunk.”

                “Sasuke doesn’t work that way.”

                While she might not have Shikamaru’s genius for strategy, Sakura had something that the Nara would never have.  A thorough knowledge of Sasuke and Sasuke’s techniques, developed through obsessive study.  In a battle like this, where Sasuke was their ONLY opponent, that counted for a lot.

                “Our world?”  Naruto blinked.  “The disruptions were coming from our world?”

                “No.”  Spectre let out an icy sigh.  “There are two sides to every false connection, child.  A prompting must come from BOTH ends for an effective link to be established.  The worlds must have something in common in order to connect.  Your world was only one part of the equation, the other was this.”

                “B-but why?”  Hinata blinked.  “W-we d-don’t have m-much in common with this world…. Do we?  It’s all so strange and different here…”

                The Spectre let out a smile, a strange sight on that foreboding face.  “As I explained to you earlier, you have more in common with this world than you realize.  It is no accident that you and the reporter Lois Lane established such an easy rapport, little one.  You and her are in some ways alike… her role as a reporter is very similar to yours as a ‘medium.’  You connect people and bring them together.  Nor is it any accident that Naruto feels such a sympathy toward the ways of this world.  In some ways, it approximates the world he himself has been working toward.  One might even say that Naruto, in his boundless optimism and unbridled strength, is very similar to the League’s Superman.”  Spectre nodded to Naruto, who was opening and closing his mouth without any sound.  “But that is a discussion for another time.”

                “The chief inspiring link, however, came from two resonant portions of energy.  On your world you have a man seeking to attain godlike power, on this world another madman is seeking to do the same.  Though one considers it a form of rites and sacrifices and the other considers it a matter of science and experience, they are merely different aspects of the same thing.”  Again an ironic smile curved the man’s mouth.  “For example, while your madman considers his goal a great ‘jutsu’ the one from this world calls it an ‘equation.’”

                Sasuke had always hated Lee’s ability to humiliate him in slow motion.  Though he could use the Sharingan to capture and imitate Lee’s mastery of taijutsu (and he was getting some beauties right now), he simply could not match the speed Lee had built up over so many years.  Basically, that meant he could watch himself get punched in slow motion.

                The punches rarely fully connected though.  Lee was faster than a two-tailed Bijuu, but Sasuke had fought the Raikage and lived.  Barely, perhaps, but he had still lived.  Sasuke knew how to roll with what he couldn’t avoid and take advantage of what he couldn’t.  Lee didn’t know it, but always training with weights left him slightly… unbalanced for the few occasions when he took them off.

                The other one in front of him—Robin, as Sasuke recalled—was another story altogether.  His attacks left few openings and he could usually compensate for the few that they did.  Each stroke was a balanced act of precision.  He might not have Lee’s speed, but he had some clever tricks that even the Sharingan couldn’t predict.  (It still didn’t seem to be working well on these).

                They were the only real problems, though.  Shino had had to duck out after Sasuke had burnt half his insects away, and Kiba didn’t seem to have Akamaru, which lessened his threat level from negligible to non-existent.  Sakura… well, Sasuke couldn’t really honestly consider her much of anything.

                The two fighters were getting annoying.  Time to kill them.  Summoning the necessary chakra, Sasuke cried, “Amaterasu!”

                But they were already gone.  Instead, flames raked across the deserted stones until smashing against the wall at the far end.  Before he could quite process how they’d avoided it, the two fighters were back, smashing into his defense.  A series of blue and green shots alerted him to the arrival of the other ‘Titans.’

                “Enough of this.”  Sasuke muttered.  Both eyes flashed, and a partial Susanoo materialized around him.  Seventeen attacks from Lee and three from Robin smashed against it before realizing the futility and backing up.  Green and blue energy—the Sharingan told him it wasn’t chakra—pounded into the invincible barrier.

                A Susanoo gave him a moment to think.  The presence of his old comrades in this world meant Kakashi must have sent them all.  That was interesting.  In all probability, that was how the one ‘Batman’ had known about Konoha.  But were these all that had come?

                Naruto should be here.  He’d been the closest when the teleportation hit.   Neji also, and most likely Shikamaru.  All three were dangerous, why weren’t they here?  (Rapidly his mind also catalogued Sai, Ino, Chouji, Hinata, and Tenten as missing, but he did not spare much time on that).  Shikamaru was a master of distraction and misdirection.  What could he be doing with three such fighters?

                A sudden whirring noise was all the warning he had.

                Bone cracked and broke in a roaring whirlwind of green and black, tearing its way through the ribcage straight into Sasuke.  With an ease born from fighting Lee, Sasuke rolled with the strike, dodging the worst of it, and tumbled away on the ground.  I should have made a flaming Susanoo.  He reflected bitterly.  Those at least kill people.

                Already his attacker was up and screaming.  Sasuke experienced a moment’s surprise on hearing Kiba’s voice.  “DUDE!  It worked!  It so totally WORKED!  That is awesome man, I never thought we’d actually…. Aw YEAH!”

                “Whaddaya mean, ‘it worked?’  Man, that killed!”  The green dog doubled over on the ground had its own opinion.  “How thick a skull does that Akamaru of yours HAVE, anyway?”

                Sasuke debated the importance of this conversation and concluded that it had none.  At least, certainly not in relation to the others rushing down on his position.  Glancing up, he sighted ten of them leaping in attack.  “Amera…”

                A curious thing happened.  Even before he’d begun saying the technique, Kiba had suddenly jerked around and leapt at him.  Though closer than the others, he still had no chance of attacking Sasuke before the inextinguishable black flames hit.  But Kiba did not seem to intend to.  His jacket, already half torn, whipped off in his hand and shot across Sasuke’s field of vision just as he said ‘Amaterasu.’

                The coat burst into flames.  The attackers on the other side continued on unharmed.

                What the heck?  Sasuke’s mind reeled in disbelief even as he punched Kiba and the bizarre green kid away.  That was deliberately done to block my technique.  How did he know that?  How did he know that IN TIME to stop it?

                For the moment Sasuke shelved the question in favor of the five or six dangerous warriors speeding toward him.  Lee’s foot came out of nowhere, Sasuke rolled away from it but nearly hit Cyborg’s sonic beam, green shots were coming down all around him, bugs were swarming…

                Bad.  Sasuke’s mind decided.  Need to get space to regroup.  How?  Kusanagi?

                Then he remembered the twin Uzis stuck in his coat.

                “It’s hard to explain the sensation.”  Luthor frowned, apparently feeling for words.  “It’s like… teleportation, I suppose, except you are not the one moving.  A consciousness of an object in transition between two possible destinations.  Whenever a teleportation occurred, I was instantly aware both of it and what it contained.  Instantly!  Almost as if I felt it enter my mind and wait while I planned what to do with it.”

                Keys clicked under Karin’s nervous fingers as she nodded to show her understanding.  In reality, she had NO idea what Luthor was talking about.  He’d suddenly come in for an inspection of the Juugo hybrids—which were progressing beautifully, actually—and then suddenly begun asking her about someone named ‘Gennosuke,’ a homicidal maniac he assumed she knew somehow.  When she’d protested her ignorance and asked what he wanted to know so badly for, he’d proceeded to give her a long talk… something about an equation and the antidote for life.  She did her best to follow it, but interdimensional physics had never been her strong point.

                But she had no intention of letting Luthor know that.  So she nodded.

                “It was amusing enough, and perfectly safe, to toy with the teleportations.  An explosion here, a missile there… oh, I poked at my old adversaries well enough.  But it was so petty.  So weak, in comparison with what I could do if gained the fragment itself, rather than merely respond to the gifts it sent me.”  Luthor mused a space.  “Very frustrating.  To be able to feel the power, but not grasp it.  I killed about three squads of men trying to teleport them to your world to retrieve it.  Once I even attempted the trip myself, but to no avail.”

                Karin’s mind stopped at that.  Luthor had tried to teleport to their world?  Was the teleporter still in the base?  Could she use it?  And then she remembered the explosive on her neck and resumed typing.

                “Finally, unexpectedly, a great chance came.”  Luthor’s voice took on a new tone.  “I had for some time known the nature of the missing fragment—a projector, a portal to fully implement my power over the entire world.  With delight, I one day felt such a projector in the eye of my unwary ally!  It was reaching out, attempting to seize a fragment like itself!  My missing piece was coming to me!  Eagerly I arranged it to arrive in my base for harvesting.”  He frowned suddenly.  “But something went wrong.  More came than I had reached for, and the Sharingan did not arrive here.”

                “Sharingan?”  Karin’s mind came to an abrupt halt.  “What does that have to do with Genno… OH!  You mean Sasuke!”

                Cursing, Neji watched as his friends withered under the onslaught of the weapons in Sasuke’s hands.  He had seen these before—wielded by petty thieves in Jump City for bank robberies in such.  They were, in their own way, terrible weapons.  He could only imagine what Tenten would have thought about them.

                In the hands of Sasuke Uchiha, S-class missing nin and last true wielder of the Sharingan, they were living death.  The Titans had more experience with firearms than most of the ninjas, and avoided the worst of the fire.  Lee, for the most part, was too fast to be hit.  But Kiba, Sakura, and Shino  all went down, cut to pieces by Sasuke’s devastating reflexes and accuracy.  Even the survivors were being forced to give ground. 

                Neji wanted to go down there.  He wanted to help them.  But he couldn’t.  Sakura had assigned him a special role, and his teammates lives depended on his being able to fulfill it.

                So he could do nothing but watch as the Titan Cyborg broke loose from cover, roaring, bullets bouncing off his metallic skin, to charge and Sasuke.  The girl Raven too, curiously enough, seemed able to deflect bullets through her magic.  Both moved up the field, providing cover for the others.

                The Byakugan made everything crystal clear…  the battered form of Question safe in the Titans Jet, the dodging maneuvers of Robin and Starfire as they shot from cover to cover, the wavering chakras of the wounded ninjas on the ground, Lee’s curiously malformed coils… even the far-distant chakra networks of Sai and Chouji, swiftly falling under Batman’s assault, could be seen by the all-encompassing Byakugan.

                He could even watch Sasuke as the chakra paths in his head switched from the common blue to glowing red.

                “Amateratsu!”  He shouted, but it was unnecessary.  Quick as thought, Ino, right next to him, had seen the same and sent it on to the fighters.  Sakura, the closest to Sasuke, whipped her hand from her pouch and smashed some pellets to the ground.  Black Ameratsu flames erupted from the billowing clouds and then dissipated away.

                The observation post had been Sakura’s idea.  Neji had fought Sasuke in their last battle, and could see the special chakra employed in the different uses of the Mangekyo Sharingan.  Why the chakra was different, he didn’t know, but he did not seek to question it.  His knowledge allowed him to predict the attacks, and his predictions allowed him to save his teammates—through the telepathic agency of Ino.

                Theoretically, Amateratsu was quick as sight.  Not so.  Ameratsu required a momentary build-up before it could be employed, and then a split second before it’s usage and it’s actual affect.  A two-second warning, at best.  But the Byakugan was as quick as sight also, and Ino’s telepathy was as quick as thought.  A two second warning had been all they’d needed, so far.

                It was also Neji and Ino’s job to break the others out of a genjutsu if Sasuke employed one.  Reputedly, the Uchiha Tsukiyomi could destroy a person in a second, but by most accounts Sasuke had not yet mastered it, so they should be able to break anything he set up before the others were dead.  And again, there was the warning system.

                He needed to be careful, though.  Sasuke had glanced up at that shout he’d given…  he had to be suspecting something.  If they, the back-up plan failed, what would the front-lines do?

                They needed to hurry, whatever happened.  Not only were they losing ninjas, but Neji could see that Chouji and Sai had all but fallen now.  In a few seconds the defender of Gotham and his companion would be here.  Although, he mused as he watched Starfire go spiraling from the sky, their help might not be unwelcome.

                Regardless, a Konoha issue was a Konoha issue.  If someone from this dimension killed Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Ino might very well take it badly.  Or otherwise, which seemed more likely to Neji, if someone from this dimension SPARED Sasuke for some moronic reason, Sasuke might very well escape and cause the whole problem all over again.  The strike had to be here, now, before the heroes could interfere. 

A private part of Neji’s mind even wondered whether the Titans should be knocked out when the moment came.  They didn’t have much left, it was true, but if Ino could distract them with a mental… something, then he and Lee could probably take care of them in short order.  Of course, this would only be practical after Sasuke was down, so at the moment the point was sort of…

Suddenly Ino jerked convulsively and fell to the ground with a short gasp.  Neji didn’t even have time to stare at the holes in her chest before a salvo of bullets ripped into him.

                “Events reached a crisis eventually, of course,” said Spectre, shrugging.  “The connections between your world and this were growing stronger and stronger.  A complete meld, which would have been disastrous for both, was imminent.  My guardianship kept such a convergence from occurring, but I still could do nothing against the disruptions themselves.  I knew my opponent was seeking to obtain the power of your world’s Sharingan, but I could do nothing against it.”

                Both ninjas reacted to the word ‘Sharingan.’  Naruto gave a great groan and buried his face in his hands, Hinata’s face simply crumpled in confusion.  “H-he… he wants the Sharingan?  Wh-wh-why w-w-would he w-w-want something like that?”

                “Does it make a difference?” Naruto spoke, voice slightly muffled by his hands.  “EVERYONE wants the Sharingan.  For something.  I’ll bet you there are people who collect whole roomfuls of them just for kicks.”

                 “Luthor requires the Sharingan for two reasons.”  The Spectre inclined his head.  “First, its genetic code contains the final pieces he needs for his Anti-Life equation.  Second, the Sharingan, used properly, can immediately project his influence over the earth.  At the moment his power is limited to his surroundings and those he can speak to, the Sharingan would allow him to seize omnipotence over this entire sphere instantly.”

                “Just tell me he’s not going to use it with the moon.”

                “So far as I know, the moon does not figure into his plan,” responded the Spectre, raising an eyebrow at Naruto.  “Why do you ask?”

                “Never mind.”  Naruto raised his head from his hands.  “So.  What was this crisis you were talking about?”

                “The crisis came when your Hokage aimed a teleportation jutsu at Sasuke’s Sharingan.   He intended to teleport only Sasuke, removing him from your world and—unwittingly—releasing him into ours.  Obviously he could not know of the disastrous effects this would have on our world.”  The Spectre shook his head.  “He had not yet learned that nothing truly disappears… it must always go somewhere.  True, he had had neither time nor opportunity to consider what might happen, but he did not consider it his concern.”

                “He’s the Hokage of Konoha, not guardian of the Universe!”  Naruto protested.

                “Multiverse.  Or cosmos, more properly.”

                “Whatever!  The point is, it’s not his job to make sure dimensions don’t collide, it’s his job to protect the village, at all costs!  Protecting dimensions is your job!”

                “Quite.”  If possible, the Spectre looked almost amused by Naruto’s tirade.  “But you must forgive my annoyance with your teacher for making my work much more difficult.  Still.  I must also thank him for the opportunity he gave me.”

                “O-o-oppurtunity?”

                “In such a crisis, I had to take action.  I could not stop the teleportation, but I could manipulate it to confuse Luthor’s plans.  One such manipulation was the juggling of places—I removed his goal from its intended destination and placed it beyond his reach.  Another such manipulation was your own teleportation.”

                The words hung in the air.  Hinata gasped as Naruto leapt to his feet.  “Do you mean you’re the reason we got ended up in this crazy, spandex-clad, ramen-forsaken world?”

                The Spectre blinked.  “Did I not say that at the beginning?  Indeed I am responsible for your presence on this world.  I needed intermediaries, allies…”

                “…friends,” interjected Rev. McCay.

                “…I needed help against Luthor.”  Spectre shot a glare at McCay, who merely smiled.  “As I said, his power was already paramount to my own, no small feat.  A few pebbles were needed to tip the balance.  So, as your teacher focused on Sasuke, I expanded his range, fed on his power, and included you all in the teleportation.”  He frowned suddenly.  “I did miss the dog.  But that, too, has turned out for the best.  And now, here you all are, players in a grand chess game.”  Offering an ironic smile, he added, “How does it feel to be a pawn?”

                “Sakura-san!  Sakura-san!  You must get up!”

                Sakura groaned, pushing herself against the ground.  “…leg… burns like… oh my…”

                “You must get up, Sakura-san!”  Lee’s voice continued to insist.  It bobbed and wavered around her in an odd manner  “It is not safe here!  You must escape!  I will hold him off!”

                “You…?”  Slowly Sakura’s vision cleared.  Very close to her, a green blur shot around a most-annoyed Sasuke, who aimed two blazing Uzi’s in any direction he seemed to think it would attack from.  The blood splattering across the cement showed his guesses were not wholly inaccurate.

                Slowly Sakura saw other things too.  The half-man Cyborg lay on the ground a few paces away, both metallic legs cut out from under him, the sword Kusanagi wedged in his sonic cannon.  Just behind him Sakura could see the girl Raven, rocking in the throes of some genjutsu-induced nightmare.  And ahead of both, on the other side of Lee, lay Robin, his uniform badly singed and his cape still burning with black fire.

                Black fire…?

                Crap.  Neji must be down.  Ino must be down.  And now that she glanced around her, she saw also Shino and Kiba, collapsed against the pavement, blood painting it a new color. Beside Kiba lay Beast Boy.  Farther beyond, she could see a blot of orange slumped against the opposite wall.

                All out.  All unconscious.  Some possibly dead now, all certainly dead later when Sasuke got around to it.  All of them dead, for her failing.

                This could not be borne. 

                Distantly she felt the regeneration jutsu kicking in, vaguely she felt the individual cells reforming and knitting themselves back together, closing around the bits of metal lodged in her abdomen. 

                “Sakura-san!”

                She did not get up, not yet.  Her muscles were coiling, readying themselves as they found footholds on the ground.  But she gave no warning, gave no hint to the man blasting away at her friend.  He would have no warning until she leapt at him, arms flailing and smashing and grinding his skull into dust.

                Sasuke swore and turned his back to deliver a fresh salvo at the infuriating green blur.

                NOW!

                …

                NOW!

                …

                NOW, YOU FOOL, NOW, WHILE HIS BACK IS TURNED!  KILL HIM!

                And yet Sakura stayed slump on the ground, muscles coiled, feet braced, hands around a kunai, watching the blood fly as Sasuke shot away at a green blur.

                She could not do it. 

She could not do it and even as she hated herself for not being able to do it, she still could not.  Images of a three teammates, three… friends, almost, playing together in Konoha flashed through her mind.  A declaration made, a squeeze of comfort given, an unexpected protectiveness, a terrifyingly bittersweet farewell, and a heartbreaking promise…

She could not.  Whether because of the memories or because of herself she didn’t know, but she could not kill Sasuke.

And she hated herself.

“Sakura-san!”

But she could not let Lee die.  She might not be able to kill Sasuke, but she could also not let him kill Lee, or any of the others.  She had to… but how?

“Sakura… no!”

Sakura glanced upward to see the dark barrel of a gun.

“You know, Lee, I just realized something.”  Sasuke’s voice, calm and cold seemed almost to come from the gun.  “You’re strong and fast, a great deal faster than I.  Even without jutsus you are a formidable opponent.  But you still share the same weakness as all men.  You have too many bonds.”

Lee materialized from his blur for a moment.  Sasuke shot at him, but Lee blurred away to another spot.  “You cannot.  Do not shoot…”

“I cannot shoot you, maybe, but I can still shoot her.”  Now Sakura saw his face, coldly leering over the sights of the Uzi.  “And seeing as how you’re prepared to die to get her out of here, I can’t help but think you’d die to prevent that.”

“I would.”

“So.  Our aims agree then.”  Sasuke again shot at Lee’s form and again missed.  “Stay still for three seconds together, or I shoot her.”

An idea flooded into Sakura’s mind.  A beautiful, righteous idea.

“You’ll shoot her anyway.”  Lee’s voice sounded wary, with a hint of despair.

“Perhaps.”  Sasuke shrugged.  “Perhaps not.  But if I do it now, it will be your fault.”

The idea continued.  She loved it.  It was so proper, so fittingly JUST.

“I… I…”

“Lee.”  Sakura spoke.  “Don’t do it.”

Lee materialized for three seconds, long enough for Sasuke to shoot at him and for him to stare at Sakura, bewildered, before blurring away.  “Sakura-san?”

“Don’t stop.”  She answered, muscles tensing.  “Don’t stop attacking him, don’t let up, keep on pounding him into the ground until there’s nothing left.”

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow.  Lee’s voice came from the blur.  “Sakura-san?”

“Don’t stop Lee.”  Sakura tensed her muscles one final time, staring into the barrel of the gun.  “Kill him… for me.”

And she leapt straight into the Uzi.

                “I don’t yet know what caused the interference.”  Luthor frowned in thought.  “But as trivial as the interference itself might be, the ramifications have turned out to be much larger than I had anticipated.  Now the League stands aware of my survival and my aims, and a host of other, bothersome dimensional travelers like yourself stall me in quest of my true prey.  I must find Gennosuke, quickly, before another does.”

                “I… see.”  Shikamaru answered, mind reeling.  World-control jutsus, teleportation interference, the whole business being messed up with Sasuke’s Sharingan…  It was far too much to take in at once.  What exactly had he gotten himself into?

                The man above, noticing his expression, gave a dark chuckle.  “Happy to know at last the stakes you are playing for, eh?  Beware, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but perfect knowledge is truly terrifying.”

                “Hardly terrifying.”  Shikamaru managed, annoyed at having shown his expression so clearly.  “I’ve dealt with worse.  Anyway, what motivation do I have to help you with Gennosuke?  Maybe he’s already been found by someone else?  Then your whole plan is pretty shot to ribbons, isn’t it?”

                “Hardly.”  Luthor smiled.

                “Even if Gennosuke has been taken by another already, he shall eventually make his way to me,” explained Luthor to Tenten over the roar of explosive pellets.  “Indeed, he has already been reaching out to me with his mind.”

                “Nature abhors a vacuum.”  Luthor shrugged to a confused Juugo.  “And an equation demands completion.  He shall seek me just as I have sought him.”

                “Before long, I shall…”  Luthor stopped in mid-sentence to stare at Karin.  “Sasuke?  You said his name was Sasuke?”

                Karin silently cursed her big mouth by all the ten gods that she didn’t believe in.

                Shikamaru watched, uncomprehending, as Luthor’s face above him grew dark.  “Also, it appears you have lied to me about your companion’s name.”  He spat at Shikamaru.  “Why did you do that, Mr. Nara?  I thought you were no friend of this ‘Sasuke.’”

                “I’m not.”  Shikamaru shrugged, doing an internal cursing rant of his own.  “Just wanted to see how much you really knew about him.  Heck, if you didn’t even know his name…”  he arched an eyebrow, “…doesn’t really give me much confidence in this ‘all-knowing-ness’ of yours.  Explain to me again why I should help someone who doesn’t even know the name of the person he’s looking for?”

                Luthor’s face grew nearly purple.  “You will regret that, Mr. Nara.”  He hissed, drawing out a remote.  “You will regret that very much indeed.”

                Maybe, thought Shikamaru as the electricity ripped through his body.  But the look on your face was priceless.

                It hurt to breathe.

                It hurt to breathe or talk or move or really do ANYTHING except lie there and try not to move her midsection with the little burning pieces of metal inside, but she had to try.  She had to try because that had been Sakura that had just screamed down there, and Ino HAD to know if Sakura was okay.

                With great difficulty, pain shooting up and down her body, Ino tilted her head and blinked at the battlefield below.  She passed over the Titan and ninja wounded to Sakura, who lay crumpled at Sasuke’s feet.  In her hand was a crushed Uzi, the middle of it nearly blown apart.  Ino was later to hear of the danger of firing while the barrel of a gun was obstructed, right now all she could see was the right side of Sakura’s face, badly burnt from the explosion.  The pretty pink hair that floated in the breeze was partially burnt.

                Lee was screaming.  Lee was screaming and attacking and pummeling Sasuke’s leaping form, but he wasn’t getting anything substantial in, and even as Ino watched, a flaming Susanoo ribcage surrounded Sasuke, just in time for Lee’s green-spandex-clad leg to come crashing into it.  Seventeen attacks later, Lee lay writhing on the ground, covered in black flames.

                Ino started to cry.  They’d lost.  Again.  They had all lost and now Sasuke was going to kill them all before anyone could get here.  As her eyes lolled to the back of her head her mind set out a last desperate call for help…

                “Whaddaya mean, pawn?”  Naruto was shouting at the trenchcoat-clad angel.   “I’m no pawn!  I’m gonna be the next Hokage of Konoha, dattebayo, and don’t you forget it!”

                “And what shall you do once that has been achieved?”

Naruto gaped at the strange question unable to think of any answer. 

Nodding, the angel continued, “To the man living for an ambition, the only thing more terrible than failing that ambition is succeeding in it.  Not only because he no longer knows what to live for, but because often, the ambition turns out not to be as fulfilling as he had hoped.”

                “Some people, in an effort to solve this dilemma, would tell you that the goal is not as important as the struggle to get there.”  Snorting, the man observed, “they are, of course, wrong.  But the point stands that living for oneself, or even for a temporary goal such as ‘becoming Hokage’ is a limited vision.  One must always seek to be a servant, a pawn, of something higher than oneself.”

                “Actually, it’s something of a comforting thought occasionally,” observed McCay from the doorway.  “Knowing that the world doesn’t ACTUALLY rest on your shoulders, even if it seems to.”

                “Indeed,” nodded Spectre.  “One could even argue that it is impossible not to be a pawn of some kind, either of destiny or to your own self, for could…”

                “Naruto!”  Hinata suddenly jolted to her feet, her chair crashing to the floor.  “Ino is…”

                “Yeah, I felt it too.”  Naruto, already up, was grabbing for her hand.  “Look, Mr. Spectre, fun talking to you but we gotta run it’s a long way and all and we…”

                “We don’t have to run.” Hinata suddenly grabbed him with both hands, eyes glowing.  “For they that wait upon him shall mount up on wings as eagles…”

                “Hinata?”  Naruto eyed his muttering friend.  “What’re you…”

                “If I go into heaven you are there, if I descend into the pit there you are also…”

                “Hinata?  Wha… WAH!”

                The room dissolved around them in a blaze of light.

Chapter Text

                “You didn’t mention anything about that chubby one being able to grow like that.”  Wonder Woman stated accusingly as she floated back to ground level, a limp Chouji dangling from one hand.  “Or breathe fire.”

                “Last time we met, he couldn’t.  Or at least didn’t.”  Batman clicked handcuffs around an equally comatose Sai.  “Must not have had the stamina for it.  Anyway, doesn’t seem to have slowed you down any.”

                Diana shrugged.  “People who grow bigger are just easier to hit.  The flame-throwing was a little unsettling, but not bad.  You?”

                “A competent fighter, very unique style.”   Batman straightened up.  “Still, no problem.  They were intended to delay us, nothing more.”

                “They did that well enough.  I didn’t exactly see where that jet went.”

                “No need.” Batman fished out a small datapad and tapped the screen a few times.  “Radar shows they’re hovering over the Narrows.”  He tossed the pad to Diana.  “Get down there, I’ll follow on the Batmobile.”

                Diana needed no further urging and shot off into the sky.

                The power was warm, fulfilling.  It surged through her veins and pulsed through her flesh, pushing through her ears, eyes, mouth.  She felt a slight tingling sensation across her teeth as the whiteness roared about her and Naruto.  In her mind, she instantly felt the church, the city, the warehouse where Ino lay and all the intervening space between, and just as instantly felt exactly where they ought to go.  She focused on that point… and there they were.

                There was no stumbling, no sudden rushing sensation… if anything, the world felt as though it moved around them and adjusted to fit them in.  In fact, as Hinata only noticed a little while later, they materialized in a spot of rubble made perfectly even to accommodate them.

                At the time, though, there was too much new information to handle already.  Hinata felt the strange awareness fading from her, along with the warmth of the power, and realized with a shock that they were no longer in Jump City, but in Gotham.  More particularly, she realized they were in a warehouse—or what used to be one—standing right next to the fallen Ino, looking out over a debris-strewn battlefield, dotted with the fallen forms of their teammates.

                “Hinata, what—where—how…?”  Naruto gaped about at their surroundings, more lost than her.  “What did you… what?”

                “I… think I just teleported us to Ino’s signal.”  Hinata admitted hesitantly.  Suddenly realizing that Ino was leaking blood over the ground, she fell to her knees, letting out a little scream.  “Ino!”

                Apparently she screamed too loud, for on the other side of the field, a head whipped around and red eyes smouldered.  “Naruto?  You again?”

                “Sasuke?”  Now Naruto was completely lost.  “What are…”

                Whatever Naruto had been about to say, Sasuke did not let him finish.  In his eye flashed in the Mangekyo Sharingan, releasing the deadly black flames of Amaterasu.

                Neither Hinata nor Naruto saw the attack coming.  But unbidden, Hinata felt the warmth flood through her temples and push out.  The flames crashed against a globe of whitish-gold light, before being blown away like so many shreds of cloud.  It was over before either Naruto or Hinata realized what was happening.

                Of course, once Naruto DID realize it, his eyes flashed and he whipped out a kunai, moving forward in front of Hinata.  “You bastard.”  He hissed.  “You did this again?”

                From across the destroyed warehouse, Sasuke shrugged and pulled Kusanagi free of Cyborg’s remains.  “Wasn’t my idea.  They came hunting me, not me them.  I didn’t even know that the rest of you were even ON this world.  Still.”  He glanced around at the huddled bodies.  “It’s just as well, I suppose.  I was getting bored.”

                “Bastard,” hissed Naruto again.  His eyes were slowly turning an odd shade of yellow, and touches of orange could be seen on his eyelids.  From her position on the ground, Hinata could do little but stare, apparently Naruto had been practicing his sage mode.  “If you’ve harmed them I’ll…”

                “I already did.”  Sasuke interrupted him.  “In fact I should be surprised if several of them weren’t dead by now.   Lee did quite impressively, I must…”

                The conversation was broken off at this point as a blue and white blur shot from the sky.  Sasuke tried to dodge, but a woman who could block bullets with her hands was not easily avoided.  Wonder Woman crashed into Sasuke full-on, barreling him out of the warehouse and off back again into the sky.

                For a second, Naruto just gaped.  Then he leapt after them.  “I have NO idea what is going on here.”  He growled.  “Hinata!  Stay here and take care of the others!”

                “But…”  Naruto was already gone.  For some reason she couldn’t quite define, Hinata felt a trifle deflated.  That made no sense, of course.  It wasn’t like she could have actually helped him against Sasuke, and obviously someone needed to stay here to look after the others.

                Others…

                Hinata let out a little gasp as she remembered the bleeding Ino at her feet.  Quickly she rolled the girl over and examined the wounds.  Very odd ones… tiny holes that bled with surprising strength.  She needed to stop it, bind it up somehow.  Quickly she placed her hands over the wound, pressing down…

                This time the warmth bubbled up from her heart, shot out her hands.  She was getting a better feel for it now.  It was almost tangible as it flooded into Ino, clogging her blood and reknitting the muscle.  Hinata felt the heart pump with new strength, saw the lungs rise and fall.

                Ino opened her eyes.  “Hi-na-ta?”  she croaked.  “Wha… how did you…?”

                “We came as quickly as we could once we got your message.” Hinata answered.  The bleeding seemed to have stopped, so she stood up.  “Just lay and rest for a while, I need to see to the others…”

                “No wait… hang on a… I think, I think…”  Ino slowly clambered to her feet.  “…I think I’m fine, actually.”

                Hinata blinked at her.  “R-really?”

                “Yeah.”  Ino frowned at her belly and the three white scars there.  “Winded like hell, and exhausted but… I’m actually okay.   Let me help you.”

                Every thing in Hinata's medical training screamed against it.  Ino used medical jutsu, which used chakra, and clearly Ino didn’t have much of that left.  But she DID look okay, and Hinata DID need help.  “Take care of Neji, and see how you feel then.”  Hinata pointed at her cousin, lying in a crumpled heap next to Ino.  “Try not to move too much.”

                Receiving a short nod, Hinata leapt over to the others. 

                This kid is fast!  Diana thought as the wind whipped past her.  He nearly dodged me!

                She’d seen the confrontation from about a mile away.  Superman’s opponent Naruto, and someone who she could only assume was Uchiha Sasuke.    A girl too, but that meant little just at the moment, because it didn’t take Athena’s wisdom to see a clash between two opponents like THAT would cause citywide devastation. 

Despite her private yearning to go in swinging, Diana had to prioritize.  Save the city.  Prevent destruction.  Keep insurance rates down.  (It still puzzled her sometimes how important Bruce thought that was).  And, in this case, get one of the two teenagers OUT of the city before they blew it up.  If the other followed, good, if not, Bruce could probably get him.

It was just as well that she’d been aiming to grab and not to punch.  With dodging like that, her punch would never have fully connected.  A simple grapple hold, on the other hand, didn’t need to be exact to be effective.  They were nearly out of the city already.

That didn’t change the fact that the kid was fast, though.  Flying through the air HAD to be new for him, and yet he was fighting like…

Electricity tore through her system, convulsing her body.  She jerked, swerved, nearly fell from the sky but recovered herself just in time.  She had to get him out of the city.  Looking down at the teens cold eyes, she shouted, “If I fall, you do too!”

The kid sneered back.  “Omae koso, mesuinu.”

Right.  Japanese.

Another burst of electricity shot through her, dazzling her eyes for a moment with pain.  Again she wavered, swerved, lost altitude.  She couldn’t tell whether the kid was insane or suicidal.  It would be so simple to smash him against the ground… but no.  That was not the League way.  That was not Batman’s way.  Besides, the way the kid was acting, perhaps he COULD fly.  They were nearly out of the city now…

A third jolt shot through her, the strongest by far.  Involuntarily, she cried out and tumbled toward the ground.  Eyes sparkling with pain, she gathered all her strength and threw the offending teenager clear of the city.

Before she blacked out completely, she saw two things.  One was her fugitive landing with surprising agility on one of the taller buildings, ducking into a roll to absorb momentum, and continue leaping toward the city limits.

The other was a blur of orange as a familiar blonde shot past her.

A short once-over made her gasp.  Lee was on fire!  Dropping to the ground, she dashed over, readying a Suiton jutsu.  It was only AFTER she sprayed water all over the writhing shinobi that she realized the flames were black.

                Drat.  What now?  Hovering helplessly about, she studied the situation.  Amaterasu flames could eat at the victim slowly or quickly, depending on the users preference.  Sasuke seemed to have opted for the slow death, only Lee’s skin had been burnt so far.  But what good did that do if she couldn’t put the flames out?  Biting her lip, she reached into her pouch and withdrew a special senbon.  The poison would work quickly, with little pain…

                Suddenly an idea flashed on her.  The globe of light had blocked the flames Sasuke had shot at them.  AND extinguished them.  Could she perhaps do that again?

                Hopefully, she reached out a hand, waiting for the familiar warmth.  Nothing.  She reached further, inching closer to the black tongues of flame.  Still nothing.  Swallowing and gritting her teeth, she plunged her hand into the flames and began to beat down.

                It hurt.  Horribly.  She couldn’t tell whether the warmth she felt in her palms was the power or the fire.  But the flames caught neither on her skin or clothes, and it actually seemed to be working.  A minute or so of frenzied fire-beating, and the black flames had all but disappeared from Lee’s moaning body.  Hinata, panting a little, sat back and glanced at her hands.  They had not a mark on them.

                “H-how d-did-d you d-do that?”

                Hinata turned to face a bedraggled Sakura, already struggling to her feet.  “I… I don’t know.”  She admitted, staring at her hands again.  “It just… happened.”  Suddenly realizing something, she turned on Sakura.  “Sakura-san, you are hurt!”

                “I’m fine.”  Sakura closed her eyes wearily.  “Unfortunately.”  She felt about in her pouch and, finding a soldier pill, popped it into her mouth.  “Not nearly enough, but it’ll have to do.  My chakra’s nearly all used up after sensei’s regeneration technique.”  She struggled over to Kiba and her hands lit up.  “Take care of Robin.”  She called back.  “He got hit with Amaterasu too.”  Hinata obediently scrambled over to the crime-fighter’s red form.  “Is Naruto here?”

                “He was.  He’s off chasing Sasuke and the flying lady right now.”

                “Agh.”  Sakura gave a little hiss of pain.  “He’s probably mad at us, isn’t he.”

                “I… I don’t really know.  We came as soon as we got Ino’s message, we didn’t…  really have time.”

                “Ino contacted you?”  Sakura’s voice took on a note of interest.  “That was smart of her.  We tried to find you guys with the Titan’s monitor system, you know.  But you didn’t show up anywhere.”

                “R-really?”  Hinata frowned.  “That’s weird.”

                “Izzat Hinata?”  Kiba’s slurred voice broke in.  “Whaz she doin’ here?”

                “Helping.”  Sakura responded.  “Done with you for now.  Stay, Kiba.”  She moved away from the Inuzuka and struggled toward the green shapeshifter next to him.  “Where were you guys?”

                “U-um…”  Hinata bit her lip.  “N-nowhere… sp-special.  Th-the tr-tr-trackers must not have been working correctly.”  A groan from Robin alerted her that she was nearly done.  “S-sorry.  W-we c-came as quickly as we could.”

                A quick glance in Sakura’s direction showed her that the girl was shaking her head, and even seemed to be crying.  “We should have waited for you,” came the answer, slightly muffled.  “We should have tried harder to… we should have waited.”

                Hinata blinked, not sure she completely understood.  After ensuring that Robin was recovered, she stood up.  “I’ll go help Starfire.”  She volunteered.

                “I can take care of this.  You should go help Naruto.”

                Once again biting back the strange impulse, Hinata shook her head.  “I’d be in the way.  You’re still too wounded to take care of everyone here by yourself.”

                “She’s not by herself.”

                Both girls whipped around at the gravelly voice.  A grim-looking  Batman picked himself up from an apparent diagnosis of Robin.  “I assume there’s an explanation for this?”

                Sasuke skidded to a halt as an orange blur landed in front of him.  “You’ve gotten faster, dobe.”  He smirked.

                “I run faster when I’m mad.”  Naruto replied through gritted teeth.  They stood in an abandoned lot, surrounded on all sides by the crushed debris from whatever had once stood there.  Directly behind Sasuke loomed the Gotham skyline, behind Naruto stretched the open sky. “That’s the last time I let you slice up any of my friends.”

                “One or two of them, definitely, unless Sakura’s learned some new tricks.  You could just tell them to stop chasing me.”

                “They wouldn’t listen.  And don’t even bother pretending that you wouldn’t come after them anyway, Sasuke.”  Naruto’s eyes narrowed.  “Last we met, you were dead-set on destroying Konoha.  You pretending that’s changed somehow?”

                Sasuke’s own eyes narrowed.  “Konoha…” his hand slipped into his cloak and whipped out his sword, “…will PAY for what they have done to the Uchihas!  To Itachi!”

                Naruto leapt back, dodging around the sword, shooting kunai in at the raging Uchiha.  “Dude, YOU were the guy who killed Itachi.  Against the advice of Kakashi-sama and practically everyone IN Konoha.”

                Electricity formed a Chidori  around Sasuke’s hand.  “Do not DARE to speak to me of Itachi!  You do not DESERVE to speak his name!”

                “What, as opposed to you?  The guy who killed him?”  Naruto snorted, forming a Rasengan in his hand.  “I’ll talk of whoever I like, teme.” 

                The two shot at each other, attacks readied.  They collided perfectly, the two jutsus creating an enormous shockwave blowing both backward, away  from each other.  Sasuke whipped himself to his feet and readied another Chidori.   

                “You know…”  said Naruto, staring thoughtfully at Sasuke.  “Remember that one thing you said once about how a true warrior can know everything about his opponent by exchanging a single blow?”

                “Yeah.  So?”

                “Well, we’ve done that now.  I think I understand you.”

                Sasuke rolled his eyes.  “And?”

                “You’re a jerk.”  Naruto shot forward again, another Rasengan in his hand.

                Sasuke easily dodged Naruto’s Rasengan and thrust his chidori into Naruto… who disappeared with a poof and became a log.  Whipping around on pure instinct, Sasuke just barely managed to catch the REAL Naruto  in mid-attack by the arm and whip him into the ground.  The pavement erupted under the Rasengan’s impact, churning tons of dust and debris.  Leaping into the fog, Sasuke sought out Naruto’s chakra signature and sliced down at it, but Naruto practically blurred away from him.

                “You HAVE gotten faster.”  Sasuke grinned.  “At least you’ve finally realized I’m not coming back to Konoha.  What happened to that slow knucklehead who always gave the pep talks before fights?”

                “He’s still in here somewhere.  The  part of me that just saw all my friends bleeding over the pavement told him to shut up for a second or two.”

                “That reminds me.”  Sasuke reached into his coat and pulled out the Uzi.  “This thing is turning out to be even more useful than I expected.”

                A stream of bullets, aimed with pinpoint accuracy, whizzed toward Naruto, ripping through his coat.

                Sasuke watched with a twinge of disappointment as they ricocheted harmlessly off Naruto’s skin.  Cocking his head, the blonde remarked.  “You do realize I’m in Sage mode, right?  Invincibility and all that?”

                Grunting, Sasuke tossed the gun aside.   “That thing’s no fun anyway.  Shakes all over the place, impossible to aim.”

                “What makes you think it’s the gun?”  Naruto smirked.  “How’s your eyesight these days, Sasuke?”

                Sasuke froze.  Slowly his head came around to stare at Naruto.  “And why would you ask me something like that?”

                To his credit, Naruto tried to keep his shrug nonchalant.  “I just remember your brother had bad eyesight, that’s all.  Was wondering how you were doing.”

                Sasuke drew a deep breath as his eyes spiraled wildly.  “I thought I told you…”  Black flame began to  gather about him, drawing up into a ribcage, arms, legs, muscles, “…that you were NEVER to speak of Itachi!”

                Roaring, the black, flaming form of Susanoo filled the sky, Sasuke’s form invisible within its impenetrable body.  Naruto just barely dodged the enormous flaming blade as it plunged into the pavement.

                “My eyesight is fine, dobe,” roared Susanoo.  “Now let’s see how your running is.”

                “The situation is controlled, there’s no reason to inform Mr. Luthor about it yet,” reasoned the analyst.  “He left in a great hurry, I don’t think he would appreciate being interrupted for something trivial like this.”

                His associate bit his lip nervously.  “I… suppose so.  But are you sure it’s safe for her to be firing that gun like that?”

                The observation booth the two stood in was thoroughly blast-shielded and sound-proofed.  Even so, the dull roar of explosive rounds trembled the floor just ever so slightly.  They stood overlooking Tenten’s weapon-testing session, where Luthor had abruptly left her a few minutes ago.  Without pause, the girl was pouring one shot after another onto the concrete target before her.

                The first analyst considered a moment.  “There’s nothing behind that wall she’s firing at, except more concrete and solid bedrock.  And even without that, the target can easily stand up against that kind of barrage for some time.  This IS the weapons range, after all.”

                “But she’s been firing explosive rounds for a solid five minutes now.  I mean, rapidly.”

                “Yes.  Tell me, does that gun usually fire that fast?”

                “Well… yes, it does.  Generally it stops every twenty rounds or so to adjust the aiming, but I think we took that away to mess up her accuracy.  Mr. Luthor doesn’t want her getting too good with these, remember.”

                “Hm.”  There was a short pause, broken only by the series of explosions still reverberating from the chamber.  “It’s a rather impressive rate of fire.”

                “Oh it is.  They have to chain-feed the rounds, which, for fragmentation shells like these, can be rather expensive.”  The other frowned momentarily.  “She’s wasting a fortune down there.”

                The analyst shrugged.  “So far as I know, Mr. Luthor has no interest in fortunes.  He IS interested in keeping this prisoner happy.  Just let her keep firing, I suppose, she should tire of it eventually.  How much longer does she have with that gun.”

                “About fifteen minutes.”  The other checked his watch.  “Thirteen I suppose, if you want to get picky.”

                “Well, just leave her alone.  She’s not doing any harm, and if it amuses her, so much the better.”

                “This gambit ceases to amuse me, dobe.”  Susanoo rumbled.  “I can destroy clones of you all day.  Why doesn’t the real you just come out and face me?”

                “Here I am!”  A poof transformed a rock into an orange blonde, who leapt at the flaming giant.  “Eat this, teme!”

                “Tch.”  Susanoo flicked a finger and the blonde disappeared in another wiff of smoke.  “Give me some credit.  That’s not you.  Not annoying enough.  Start appearing already, or I’m going to head back to the city and smash down a few buildings.”

                “Batman’d stop you.”  Another blonde claimed, rising from a pile of ash.

                “Is he here too?  No matter.  Impenetrable defense is impenetrable.”  Susanoo destroyed the new blonde with a flick of his finger.  “Honestly, Naruto, you were never one to hide from a fight, least of all with me.  What on earth is taking you so long this time?”

                “Nothing much.”  Susanoo turned with an almost bored air toward the new voice.  “Just this.”

                An orange streak tore across the pavement, a whirling disk of pure chakra in his hand.  It left his hand, went shooting at the black flaming giant with breathtaking speed.  Roaring, the black flames leapt to meet it and then…

                There was a sickening crack.

                Susanoo stumbled back a step or two and glanced down.  A wide gash had been torn in its side, white blood seeping from the wound as the flames wavered weakly around it.  He looked back at Naruto with something between wonder and rage.  “You… hurt me.”

                For his part, Naruto simply stood there, panting, looking slightly disappointed.  “Aw… man!  Only… that… much?”

                “YOU HURT ME!”  Susanoo roared, swinging his sword in a flaming arc.  “YOU SHALL PAY!”

                Again the orange streak raced across the lot, one step ahead of the raging destruction in his wake.  Time after time the sword crashed behind him, time and time again the great flaming arrows dove into the ground about him.

                “You… you know…”  Naruto panted as he raced along, “being ungodly huge doesn’t really help if your aiming stinks.  And if you’re as slow as molasses.  That Susanoo thing really doesn’t seem to be helping you any, Sasuke.”

                “Says the man fleeing for his life.”  Susanoo snorted.  “It may not make attacking you easier, but it allows me to fully decide the proper way to kill you.  And I note that you’re not looking so terribly well yourself.”

                He was right, Naruto knew.  A terrible hitch was developing in his side, and several hits were getting dangerously close.  Privately, he wondered why Sasuke hadn’t just pulled an Ameratsu and killed him already.

                Quickly he made his decision, and, bringing his fingers up in a familiar seal, bought himself some time.

                “MORE Kage Bunshins?  Come, Naruto, you’re not even trying.”  Susanoo began to lay right and left into the crowd of Narutos, engulfing the battlefield in smoke.  Some of Naruto’s clones seemed to be trying to stay alive for once, they leapt away from the blade and shunshined around the battlefield.  “This is REALLY getting annoying.”

                “Then let’s liven it up some!”  chorused the clones.  “Rasengan barrage!”

                Susanoo didn’t even bother moving as the army of clones leapt at him, a Rasengan in each hand.  He just watched disinterestedly as they hit the armor of flame and poofed out of existence.  “What, exactly, was that supposed to accomplish?”

                “Distraction!”  Before Sasuke could blink, another whirling Rasenshuriken flew out of the rubble and buried itself in Susanoo’s midsection.  Close on its heels, into the gap of flame, leapt two Narutos, rasengans in hand.  “Rasengan barrage, Part II!” 

                Two rasengans hit, but unfortunately, hit the shield that Sasuke whipped in front of them, rather than the gaping slash they had been aiming for.  They disappeared from existence with a dismal poof.

                “Well, that was a better try, but still ultimately doomed.”  Susanoo turned to the remaining Naruto with a malicious grin.  “Looks like you’re out of Sage chakra now… this should be interesting.’

                “ J’onn, it’s interesting and all that the one Yamanaka girl has developed telepathic powers, but you’re kinda getting off topic.  Do you have anything more about the Life Equation?”

                Blinking at the irate Green Lantern, J’onn answered.  “But… you see, that’s exactly it.  I’ve been training the girl how to harness her powers… seal her mind from the world,  only enter those she wishes to, read surface thoughts, drive deeper to find out necessary information…”

                “J’onn.”   Superman massaged his forehead.  “The Life Equation?”

                “Ah.  Yes.  You see, in the course of training her, I remembered something.  The Life Equation is closely tied with Martian physiology.  Indeed, I’m inclined to think it may have given the Martians their unique capabilities.”

                “Do you mean that the equation explained enough for the old Martians to genetically engineer shapeshifting Martians?”  Mr.  Terrific was also present.

                “Not… precisely.  More that knowledge of the equation, or partial knowledge, enabled them to gain a new control over their bodies.”

“Oh, for the love of…”  Mr. Terrific threw up his hands.  “How many times do we need to reiterate this?  Math is math.  What you’re doing here is ABSTRACT math.  Pure ideas, no application as yet.  By their nature, they have no influence on reality until they are applied!”

The corner of the Martian’s mouth twitched.  “You will forgive me, but for me the line between reality and idea is significantly blurred.  For me, ideas shape who I am… whether I am in this form, my Martian form, or an intangible form.  I am, in many ways, a thought embodied in the physical realm.”

“Except for fire.”

“Except for fire.”  J’onn agreed.  “Also, the child Ace, whom we dealt with in the past, could shape the fabric of reality with her thought.  Ideas and reality are very close for her and I.”

“But that’s because of your powers.”  Green Lantern frowned.  “The ideas themselves would mean nothing without your abilities.”

J’onn shrugged.  “Possibly.  Unfortunately, I am unable to appreciate the difference as fully as you are, as, I imagine, would Ace.”

“All right, all right.”  Superman waved.  “Just… continue with what you were saying earlier.”

“Well,” said J’onn with a cough.  “Summed up simply, it is this.  The Anti-Life equation allows you control of the world around you—people, terrain, circumstances.  The LIFE equation, I believe, allows one complete control over one’s self.”

“As in, one’s body and one’s thoughts.”  Terrific was once again listening.  “Assuming that the Anti-Life equation actually DOES do what it’s reputed to do, I suppose I can see the resemblance.  But how do you mean it’s in your physiology?  Buried in your subconscious, do you mean?”

“Possibly.”  Once again J’onn looked a trifle sheepish.  “I am afraid I was more thinking of the equation was buried in my body—my genetic code, perhaps.”

Mr. Terrific closed his eyes and counted to ten.  “Genetic code isn’t that kind of code, trust me.  How is an EQUATION supposed to be buried in your body?  It’s an idea, it’s intangible.  Your body isn’t.”

“Only when I want it to be.”

Before Terrific could comment on that, an intense beeping filled the room.  “Excuse me, Superman?”  Steel’s anxious voice filled the room.  “I know you said you didn’t want to be disturbed, but you ought to come out.  We have a situation in Gotham City.”

                Since the Ino incident (as he privately referred to it), things had been a little… different in Naruto’s head. 

Contrary to some villagers’ opinion, Kyuubi was not in constant communication with Naruto.  Naruto hadn’t even known Kyuubi was there until Mizuki told him, and until he’d accessed the energy himself, a part of him had always doubted it.  Normally, Kyuubi could not talk unless Naruto went, in person, to the cage and spoke with him.  Such incidents were usually dependent on Naruto.

Since Kyuubi had gotten out during Ino’s little… disruption, however, that had changed.  Kyuubi had started popping up in his dreams a bit more and the Kyuubi had been a trifle more vocal.  So far as Naruto could tell, the seal itself was undamaged, but the mind… well, the mind was a little more open.

For obvious reasons, Naruto had not told anyone about the extra voice in his head.  He was pretty good at tuning people out anyway.

Well, he had since discovered something.  An extra voice in your head, particularly one urging you to kill and burn the opponent in front of you, particularly when that WAS something you were tempted to do, was incredibly distracting.

He killed your friends.  The voice whispered as Naruto, no longer a sage,  whipped away from the black flaming blade.

He HURT my friends.  None of them were dead yet, I could feel it.  Naruto thought back.  Even just before I threw that last Rasenshuriken, I could feel it.

Regardless, he meant to kill your friends.  What do you think he’ll do once he finishes with you?  Leave them alone forever?  Go and live his life in piece?

He’s not going to beat me.  Defiance flared up in Naruto as he threw an explosive tag and cloned it a few thousand times.

There was something like a snort in his mind.  No?  He certainly will if you keep on like this.  You’ve got nothing left, kit.  No tricks, no techniques, nothing.  Summoning your toads won’t work here, you know that.  And then, in a whisper, it added, but there is one way…

NO.

                Your friends are miles away, we’re outside the city, the only one nearby is the one you want to kill.  What is the harm?

                I don’t want to kill him.  And how stupid do you think I am?  As soon as you’re done with him, you’re going to smash the city.

                Now, now.  What makes you think I’d do a thing like that?  I’d only have the power, or even the control, to do something like that if I was ALL the way out.  At the lower levels, you always have some control, you know that.

                I know nothing of the sort.  Last time you were out, you tried to kill Hinata.  Before that, Sakura.  And before that, Jiraiya-sensei.

                But I didn’t.  You wouldn’t let me.  I could have killed any of them, but I couldn’t, because you didn’t want me to. 

                The point was so startling that Naruto nearly stopped to consider it, before the sword crashed to the pavement an inch behind him and he leapt into running again.  You’ll still destroy the city.

                Haven’t you been listening?  I can’t do anything you don’t, secretly or otherwise, want me to do.  Besides, I have no interest in that city.  I’d much rather put as much difference between it and me as possible.

                You’re lying.  Naruto thought desperately.

                Why would I lie?

                At that, Naruto snorted.  You’re a demon, maybe?  Honestly, if you’re limited as much as you say, why would you even want out?

                There was a little snigger.  Let us say I want to stretch my legs.

                No.

                “I’m growing bored with this, Naruto.”  Susanoo’s voice broke in on his thoughts.  “It’s been fun and all, but I’m afraid it’s time for you to die.”

                Naruto knew a danger sign when he heard it.  Immediately he leapt behind a rock, moments before the whole field burst into black flames.

                “Clever, but again, tiresome.”  Naruto leapt away from his hiding spot moments before it was destroyed by a vast black sword. 

                He’ll keep it up until he kills you.  And after you, your friends.

                Shut up.  Naruto leapt around desperately.  He formed the necessary chakra and filled the field with clones.

                “Not this AGAIN.”    Susanoo sighed.  “I’m tired of this game.  Let’s play something different.”  Turning, he faced Gotham.  “I wonder how these buildings will stand up to Amaterasu.”

                These people don’t know how to combat Amaterasu.  The fox’s voice was almost gleeful now.    The fire will spread through their city and burn it all to ash and they’ll have no way of stopping it.  But YOU can.

                Shut up.

                “Come out and face me, NAruto, or I burn down the city.”

                It’s either him or me.  He WILL burn down the whole city, and kill your friends.  You know I won’t.

                I know nothing of the sort.

                Can you risk it?

                “I’m getting bored, Naruto.  One…”

                I will not harm the city.  You have my word.

                The word of a demon?

                A mental shrug.  It’s all I have to give.

                “Two…”

                Well?  Him or me?  Your friends’ lives, or his?

                “Three.  Well, this is tiresome, but there’s nothing for it…”

                Naruto’s eyes snapped open, red and slitted.

                Sakura gave Batman the first clue.  She was working quickly along on Shino, hands moving quickly and efficiently over his damaged midsection when her eyes widened and her hands dropped from there task.  “Yada <Oh no>.”  She whispered.

                “What?” snapped Batman.  “What is it?”

                The next second they all knew.  Like a cutting wind, a soundless ripple, a swelling wave that rips through everything and yet leaves it standing, an oppressive sense of utter rage washed through them all.  Horror, pain, fear... all these came crushing down upon their senses.

                Then there was the explosion.  A great, ripping BOOM that cracked the silent city apart, resounding through the steel and concrete canyons.  No light, just sound.

                “What was that?”   yelled Cyborg, still prone on the ground.  “A bomb?”

                All too obviously not.  And given the grim looks on the faces of the ninja, and the haunted look in Raven’s, Batman had a pretty good feeling of what it had been.

                “Saki to onaji <Just like before>.”  Sakura whispered, hugging herself.  “Saki to onaji.”

                “That,” stated Shino, staring implacably at the horizon.  “Was the Kyuubi, and unless he is diverted in the next five minutes Gotham will no longer be standing.”

                “Less, I’d say.”  Neji muttered.

                “I assume he can’t be reasoned with in this state.”  Batman grunted, standing to his feet.

                “No.”  Sakura shook her head.  “He’ll attack anybody.  You, me… his best friend.”

                Robin offered his mentor a wry-faced grin.  “Got a plan for this one, Bats?  Runes around the city?  Anti-demonic weaponry in the belt?”

                “A few holy relics, but nothing from HIS world.”  Batman frowned.  “Besides, a chakra demon doesn’t seem likely to be effected by conventional techniques.  Perhaps…”

                “Hey!”  Kiba’s shout broke them all out of it.  “Hinata?  What are you doing?”

                Batman turned just in time to see the girl vanish in a flash of light.

Though he knew exactly what was happening, Sasuke wasn’t TOO worried when Naruto exploded.  He’d fought the Kyuubi before—if not at four tails, which was what it’d grown to now—and he’d gained a great deal since then.  He was reasonably certain he could deal with the roaring beast in front of him.

And then the roaring beast—along with everything else in front of him—started to get blurry, and THEN Sasuke started to worry.

                Susanoo, as Naruto had observed earlier, was big and strong, but not fast.  Kyuubi, at four tails, might not be big, but it was strong.  And fast.  Sasuke barely had time to bring up the shield before it ripped into him, smashing through the invincible skin, the impenetrable flesh, the unbreakable bones.  The black flames didn’t even seem to touch it. 

                Perhaps Kyuubi was breaking through, perhaps Susanoo was simply breaking up.  Sasuke knew only that it was getting harder and harder to concentrate, and the pain, oh the pain…

                And then the last of his defenses gave as Kyuubi came roaring into his inner sanctum.  Sasuke managed to just barely dodge the worst of his attack, but it was still more than enough to send him crashing through what was left of Susanoo and onto the pavement outside.  Stars exploded across his brain as his head met the pavement, and his vision swam more than ever.

                A vicious, grinning face glowed into focus above his head.  It was hard to look at that bright burning face with its blank white eyes and jagged smile.  The creature seemed to regard him with sort of sadistic pleasure for a moment before shooting out a hand.  The chakra burned against his skin as it gripped his head, like a child with a small egg.  He felt as though he could not move, as if all time were still.  As if this were a dream.

                And then the creature’s other hand buried itself in his face, and he knew this was real.  He FELT his left eye ripping from his head, the sensation more real than even Itachi’s illusion had been.  His vision danced with pain and things became more blurry than ever.

                The pain spurred him to action.  With his remaining eye he cast Ameratsu, and as the Kyuubi reeled back, yowling, clawing at the black flames on its face, he scrambled to his feet and ran.  Half stumbling, half-reeling, always clutching at his gaping eye socket, he ran, paying no heed to the howls behind him.

                He was nearly in the city when the creature’s anguished howls became low, rumbling, growls.  Somehow the Amaterasu had been extinguished.  Somehow it was again on his tail.  Sasuke risked a single, blurry look back.

                The four-tailed Kyuubi stood fully planted in the pavement where he had left it,  gathering up a vast bubble of chakra, preparing for a blast.  Even as Sasuke watched, it swallowed the mass and turned toward him.

                And as Sasuke watched the fox’s glowing maw open to unleash its enormous blast upon him, he just barely had time to recognize the dim figure that flickered into existence between the two of them.

                …the Hyuuga…?

                “So we got a black flaming giant battling a flaming fox outside of Gotham city.”

                “Yes.”  Superman chewed his lip nervously, studying the readout.  “Gotham is Batman’s city…”  he muttered.  “…but giant demonic things seem a little…”

                “…out of his league?”

                Turning, Superman leveled a glare at Flash.  “I was going to say extreme.  Not the sort of stuff Batman usually handles.”  He turned back to the screen.  “Not that he’d ever admit it…”

                “Sir.”  The technician’s voice was suddenly tense.  “We have an update.  The fox just broke the giant apart.  Now it’s charging up a… blast of some kind.”

                “Estimated strength?”

                The technician fumbled for a moment.  “Well… ah… uh… it’s pretty damn big, sir.”

                An image flickered into life on the screen.  Superman’s eyes widened. 

                “That does it.”  Standing with a jerk,  he pressed his hand to his earpiece.  “Gotham or not, we’re going in.  All available S-class League members, report to Gotham City at the following coordinates!  Details to follow.  Support and relief teams ready for…”

                “Sir?”

                Superman turned to glance at the technician, who now looked a trifle confused.  “There’s a… giant pale woman… in a green cloak.”

                The Kyuubi’s blast withered away into nothing, and revealed the Spectre, now a great, pale woman, glowing white eyes beneath a hood and coat of sable green.  Dark hair whipped about her head in an invisible wind.

                “Kyuubi.”  Said the woman.  “Thousands of innocents have perished by your hands, and but for my intervention, thousands more would have today.”

                The four-tailed Kyuubi backed up, hissing, ears flattened back in something akin to fear.

                “Vengeance must be had,” stated the woman dispassionately, and in a flicker she was beside the fox.  Before it could even move, her hand was clamped on his shoulder.

                And the Kyuubi screamed!  Loud and long it screamed, and its scream echoed through the streets of Gotham.  Windows shattered, dogs howled, and people everywhere stopped their ears against the assault.

                Batman and the others, already en-route to the site, heard the scream, and it stopped them in their tracks. 

“Okay, now what was THAT?”  Beast Boy gaped.

                “I have no idea.”  Neji  answered.  “It sounded like the Kyuubi.  Let me see…”  The veins around his head pulsed a moment.  “AH!”  He fell to the ground clutching his eyes.  “AAAAHHH!”

                “Neji?”  Sakura moved over to the Hyuuga.  “What is it?”

                “What on earth is going on here?”

                “He’s here.”  Raven answered, her voice curiously vacant.  “He’s here.  But… he’s different.”

                “Fear not, Naruto,” smiled the woman as the Kyuubi shrank from four tails to three, and then to two.  Naruto’s glazed expression stared up at her.  “I am merely binding him.  Once that has been accomplished, I shall draw his soul from your body.  You shall not be harmed.”

                “No…!”  Naruto managed.  “I need… the jutsu… I need him…”

                “It shall not hurt.  Not you, anyway.  Then you shall be rid of the trouble that has plagued you your whole life long.”  Kyuubi was now down to one tail.

                Something cleared in Naruto’s gaze.  “Hi… na… ta?  Is that… Is that… you?  You… you can’t…  I need him… the chakra…  Please, Hinata, stop…”

                “Stop?  But he has been a blight upon you.  His soul is that of evil.  He is a demon, and I am the hand of vengeance.  The guilty must be punished for their crimes.”  The chakra cloak disappeared entirely.  “He has now been bound.   Now his soul shall be drawn into the lake of fire, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

                “NO!”  Naruto nearly screamed as a ghostly form of Kyuubi began to detach itself from his body.  “Hinata, STOP!”

                It was warm and comfortable in Hinata’s mind.  All things happened accordingly, everything progressed as it should.  Her consciousness lay in an enveloping sense of rightness, of being in exactly the place she needed to be in that particular point in time.

                With almost warm laziness she watched the blast dissipate in the Spectre’s hand.  Foggily she saw the Kyuubi being bound, it’s influence over Naruto being diminished.  A sort of hazy happiness flooded her senses as she watched the Spectre begin to draw the Kyuubi from Naruto’s body…

                And then it suddenly struck her that Naruto was pained, that he was screaming, that he was screaming to her, to make her stop…

                With a sudden coldness, Hinata wrenched herself from the warming presence of the Spectre  Stop!  She cried voiceless to the mind.  Enough!

                The woman’s eyes widened suddenly.  The glowing whiteness of her skin faded to pink flush again, the green cloak shortened and faded to become a purple hoodie.  The ghost form of the Kyuubi slowly retreated back into Naruto’s body.

                And Hinata slumped to her knees before Naruto.  “I’m… I’m sorry Naruto.”  She whispered. “ I’m so, so sorry…”  And then she completely passed out and collapsed on the ground.

                “Mr. Luthor isn’t available, so we thought we’d ask you.”  The two analysts gestured to Tenten, still firing away at the target below.  “Is there any danger to her doing that?”

                The new member of the group, a somewhat grubby-looking weapons tech, pushed back his cap and frowned at the spectacle.  “How long she been at that?”

                “About… fifteen minutes now.  She still has five minutes to go, but she’s kept firing that whole fifteen minutes.  We were wondering if the firing mechanism might have gotten jammed.”

                The mechanic shook his head.  “Tha’s unlikely.  Them X-49-T’s are pretty smooth—don’t jam much.  As for her firing, I don’t think it’s partic’lary dangerous.  Might heat up the gun a little, but not much.”  Gazing at the spectacle, he frowned a moment.  “It’s behavin’ kinda funny though.  Looks sorta funny too.”

                “Oh, that would be the alterations we made.”  The first analyst nodded.  “You see, Mr. Luthor doesn’t want the prisoner getting too familiar with the weaponry, so we changed it around some to throw off the aim, balance, and so forth.”

                “What kinda changes?”

                The analyst frowned.  “I don’t particularly remember… oh, we removed one of the side air circulators, to make it shake more to that side.  And we  did something to the barrel… made it so the bullets would spread out more.”

                The mechanic’s gaze had suddenly gotten a tad wider.  “Ya didn’t increase the friction, did you?”

                “I’m not sure.”  The analyst looked to his colleague, who shrugged.  “Perhaps.  Why?”

                For answer, the mechanic made for the door.   “Get that girl out of there, and cut off her ammo supply, NOW!”

                “But she still has five minutes…”

                “Listen, you.”  The mechanic whirled on the analyst.  “You know what adding friction does?  It generates heat.  You know what removing an air circulator does?  It makes that heat harder to dissipate.  You know what firing a gun like that for fifteen straight minutes does?”

                “It… makes heat?”

                “Darn right it does!”  The mechanic shouted.  “A whole stinkin’ lot of heat with all the alterations you boys made!  That gun’s gotta be glowing hot right now, practically burning her hand off!”

                “Then why is she still firing it?”  The second analyst blinked.

                “Haven’t you noticed that gun is firing explosive rounds?  IF she keeps firing that thing, she might generate enough heat to…”

                And then there was an enormous explosion.

Chapter Text

Exhiliration

                The shooting was a little more difficult that Tenten had anticipated.  Firing a gun whilst leaping and jumping through hallways required a great deal more coordination than sitting in a chair and endlessly pulling the trigger.  There were matters of kickback, coordination, and balance to deal with.  The basics of aiming she had easily mastered, and factors such as reload time and weapon accuracy she had an approximate knowledge of, thanks to her time in the shooting range; but doings things in practice turned out to be much trickier.

                Of course, that throbbing pain in her right hand (or rather, where her right hand used to be) wasn’t helping matters.  Nor, for that matter, was shooting with her left for a change. 

                Still.  Details.  At least she could somewhat brace the plasma rifle in her left hand with the stump of her right.  And really, most of Luthor’s guards seemed to be atrocious shots… they hit nearly everywhere except where she was.   The only real danger came from her bleeding stump of an arm.  If that continued, she would quickly become fatigued and pass out. 

                She had a little time left, though.  Tenten had never KNOWN such a surge of adrenaline.  Impatience bred from months of imprisonment had festered in her, the wild chance brought to her had allowed this impatience an outlet, and now, in the wild euphoria of battle, she received the ADDITIONAL excitement of a new weapon.  The adrenaline would more than compensate for the blood loss for the next five minutes.

                A black helmet caught her eye and she whipped her gun up into position.  It recoiled appreciably and Tenten took a moment to savor the neat little holes appearing across the guard’s body.  A very clinical weapon—in and out.  Very clean.  Very fast.

Shouts and the racing tread of boots announced more guards, coming down the hallway.  Too many to face, unless… 

Tenten rolled over to the slumped body on the floor and checked him over.   She didn’t want the gun he had, the one she had now was FAR more suited to her needs. The armor looked helpful, or at least it would be if she hadn’t already riddled it with holes.  On the guard’s belt were several “clips” of ammo, and several weird ball-like objects.

Ears alert to the approaching guards, Tenten picked up one of the objects and studied it.  A weapon, obviously. The shape indicated it was meant to be thrown, probably like a gas pellet.  The piece of wire sticking out of it was obviously extraneous and probably meant to be pulled out.  However, Tenten could see no place to apply chakra.

The appearance of black suits around the corner decided the issue for her.  Quickly she yanked out the pin and chucked the little ball.

BOOOOOM!

                “Damage to the city is minimal, and the kids seem all right, but we need to get them to proper medical care." Green Lantern reported.  "Their medics seemed to handled the wounds, but they have no experience with bullets."

"So the bullets are sealed inside.  Shall I have the surgery bay prepped?"  J'onn asked, surveying the bank of monitors.

Green Lantern looked slightly nonplussed.  "...probably, just to be on the safe side.  The bullets aren't the problem, though.  Bullets tend to cauterize the wounds on their way in, so it'd actually be riskier taking them out.  If they got lodged somewhere important, though, that could be a problem, so best to be careful.  Robin might help, too.  Right now we’re loading them aboard the Javelins.”

                “Good.”  J’onn nodded at the screen.  “Any sign of the three anomalies?”

                “If you mean the flaming fox and the giant statue that were here a moment ago, then no.”  Superman’s annoyed tone broke into Green Lantern’s report.  “No sign of the robed lady either.  The ninjas seem to know something, but they aren’t talking.”

                “Batman seems to have an idea.”  Lantern objected.

                A snort from Superman.  “And is HE talking?”

                “I see.  Anything else to add?”

                “Apparently they were here pursuing the fugitive—Sasuke—and also rescuing Question, who had been captured by him.  Looks like Question's been tortured, but..."  Green Lantern shrugged, "...he says its nothing he hasn't done before.  He’s stable enough for now.  We’re shipping him and Huntress back to the Watchtower… they were already onboard the Titan’s jet, so we’ll just use that."

                “No sign of Uchiha Sasuke.”  Superman cut in again.  “Flash and I have both been over the city five times.  Nothing.”

                J’onn sighed.  “Unfortunate.  Well, what now?”

                “Well, given the circumstances, I say it’s time our inter-dimensional visitors came back to the Watchtower.”  Superman’s voice was slightly strained and more than a little bitter.  “Apparently the Titans can’t keep them in hand anymore.  In any case, we have the proper medical facilities there to treat them, and perhaps get some answers about this whole event.”

                “Agreed.”  

                Explosions!  Nice, very nice, Tenten decided as she snagged a handful of the little ball-items from the dead guard’s waist.  Not as sleek as exploding tags, perhaps, but still, delightfully flexible.  She wondered if she could bounce them around corners.  That would be useful.

                For a second her eyes grew blurry and she stumbled.  Blood loss was really starting to kick in.  Perhaps one of these guard had a medic kit she could use…?  But no, more guards were coming.  She couldn’t spare the time.  Time to get out.

                Her eyes traveled up the wall and stopped midway.  Grinning, she jogged forwards.  Regardless of dimension, ANY ninja knew the value of a ventilation shaft.

Like a flash she popped the lid and slithered in, crashing the grate back into place behind her.  No sense in leaving a trail.  Pushing her gun far in front of her, she wriggled her way through the narrow metal channel, doing her best to ignore the shouts and sounds of running behind her.  Ventilator shafts made good hiding spots, but staying in them too long with.  At the first opening, she blew open the grate and jumped down.

She found herself in a small, cluttered room.  After a few quick sweeps, she assured herself that the room was empty and shimmied over to the only door.  A glance out the window contented her… she had a few moments to herself, before the cameras would bring the guards running.

Slumping against the wall, she tore a strip out of her already-ragged hospital gown, trying to find a way to wrap it around her slippery stump.  One-handed medical care was pretty tricky, after all.  You had to press the rag to the table with your stump, then wind it tightly around with the other hand, all while not letting the thing fumble all over the place.  After about the thirtieth time, vision starting to swim, she glanced up, panting slightly.

For the first time, her mind fully took stock of what KIND of room she was in.  It appeared to be  some kind of locker room.  Her internal girl cried out for the showers at the far end—she hadn’t had a proper wash in weeks—but her internal kunoichi focused on the gun sticking out of a half-open locker.  Forgetting her arm for a moment, she pushed off the wall and approached it.

To her disappointment, the gun turned out to be notoriously inferior to hers.  She’d seen it before—it was little more than a contained fire weapon.  A simple Katon jutsu could replace it.  The man who’d given it to her had called it a “flamethrower.”  Not at all useful in this situation.

Still, an extra weapon was always useful, so she took it from the locker and slung it across her back.  Then she caught sight of the armor hanging inside.

Tenten grinned.

Seconds later, she tightened the strap of a helmet over her head and shifted about in the armor.  It was a tad stiffer than the ANBU uniforms she’d seen, but it felt plenty lightweight, and VERY durable.  And though the coveralls were a trifle loose on her frame, the fabric was thick enough for her to tie off the sleeve of her stump.  So at least the bleeding was staunched.

Not much for disguise.  Tenten reflected, studying the blood seeping through the half-sleeve.  But then…   Grinning, she cocked her gun, …I’m not here for disguise.

A sudden commotion alerted her to the fact that she was losing time.  Again she slunk to the door, but a glimpse of black uniforms warned her back.  She couldn’t just charge out there.  Quickly she readied one of the spherical explosives.

Glancing out again, she frowned.  Something seemed off.  The guards weren’t readying for an attack, they were just positioning themselves around the door.  Guarding the different exits to the hallway.

Cutting her off.  They were cutting off her escape.  But escape from what?  The only other entrance was…

The vent!

Tenten swung around, cursing, noticing for the first time the chorus of tinkling metal feet ringing against the steel ventilator shaft.  My blood.  She swore internally.  They followed my blood.

And then hundreds of little metallic spiders came boiling out of the hole.

                “…the… plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces… are called… aglets.  Their true purpose...”

                “Baby, you’re okay.  You can stop now,” pleaded Huntress, cradling her boyfriend’s faceless head in her hands.  “You’re safe, we’re going to the Justice League.  They’re going to get you patched up.”

                “Must… catch… the boy.”  Question tried to struggle up from the hospital bed, ignoring the doctors.  “Uchiha… too dangerous.  Can’t be…”

                “They’re looking for him, honey.  They’ve got men all over the city.  They’ll find him.”

                “He got away then.”  Question slumped back, collapsing onto the mattress.  “No chance now.”

                “They’ll find him.”

                “No.  Only catch villains at end of fights.  If not then… hopeless.  Never find him now.”  Question hissed as a fresh wave of pain tore up his side.  “Should have… should’ve left me… gone to get him.”

                “Stay still baby.  Stay still.”  Huntress shot an annoyed look at the orderly.  “Don’t you guys have any more painkillers?”

                “NO!  No painkillers. Manufacturer of general anesthetics has connections to Mayan…”

                “He won’t take any, ma’am.”  The orderly offered her a tired smile. 

                Sighing, Huntress glared at her boyfriend.  “You’ll be the death of yourself.”

                “Question.” rasped the patient, and after a moment Huntress realized he wasn’t talking about himself. “…was… relieved you did not attempt… solo rescue mission.  Sasuke… too much for you.”

                Huntress’ feminine pride flared.  “I could have...!”

                “However…”  his rasping voice cut her short.  “...teamwork is... unusual... for you.  Passive role in rescue… uncharacteristic.”  Question’s eyeless face searched hers probingly.  “explain... discrepancies?”

                Belatedly, Huntress realized the disadvantages of a super-detective boyfriend.  “Baby,” said she, swallowing hard.  “I’ve got some… news.”

                Tenten leapt back, tossing the little sphere toward the vent.  With a loud BOOM, thousands of spiders exploded into tiny little metallic fragments.

                Explosion will warn the others outside.  Tenten realized.  They’ll attack…

                A muffled thud against the door confirmed her thoughts.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door warm from the blast of laser rifles.  It wouldn’t hold for long.  And if she ran out that way, she’d be charging straight into gunfire.

                Only one way out.  And even if there were billions of those nasty little spiders between her and it, she was going to try for it.

                Gun roaring, Tenten leapt for the shattered vent covering, shattering spiders as she went.  Her hand grasped the edge and heaved herself upward through sheer will, ignoring the ten or so tiny beasties that crumpled under her fingers.  Bracing against the wall of the vent with her stump, she used her gun hand to drag herself further into the vent, humping her body desperately to get it inwards. 

Spiders were all over her, crawling, leaping, whirring angrily.  One got onto her face and she felt the sharp sting of a needle.  Growling, she twitched her head, knocking it off, and snapped her mouth toward it, neatly biting it in half.

Her feet finally found the opposite side, and she pushed frantically, wriggling into the vent at last.  As she did, a muffled explosion announced the destruction of the door.    Hundreds of the spiders were on her now, she was starting to feel pricks elsewhere.  Poison? Her inner kunoichi wondered.  No time to think of that.  Soldiers will see the spiders, they’ll fire upwards…

But they did not. 

Why not?  Her path was obvious, there were only two ways she could have gone, and the spiders would clearly have shown them which way.  The guard’s weapons had more than enough power to punch through the ceiling and vent between her and them.  If she’d been in there position, she’d have riddled the ceiling till blood dripped to the floor.

They want me alive.

It was the only possible explanation.  The pricks must be sedative, not poison.  The guards were probably trying to use some kind of sleeping dart or stun ability on her.  No wonder they’d been doing so poorly… they hadn’t been fighting to kill.

Tenten wasn’t sure whether to feel insulted or relieved by that.

                The pricks were growing less, the spiders were slowly smashing against the narrow walls of the ventilator shaft.  But already, dark spots were dancing in front of her eyes.  The guards would know where she’d gone, they’d be waiting at the next exit.  The spiders might even have trackers on them.  And she could only go so fast, wriggling through the narrow tunnel of steel with one gun-laden arm and a flamethrower on her back bumping against the ceiling.

                Quickly devising a mad strategy, Tenten paused in the shaft and bashed every part of her body against the metal.  The tiny pricks stopped entirely.  Panting a little, gazing through the wavering darkness, she crawled forward as quickly as possible before pointing her plasma cannon upward and letting loose.

                The kickback of the gun nearly made her pass out.  There wasn’t much a way to brace against it, in the narrow shaft with only one hand in front.    She bit down hard on her tongue and curled her fingers around the hand grip.  Her stump of an arm flailed about furiously, and blackness swam in her vision.  When she felt she could stand it no longer, she let go of the trigger.

                A new, ragged hole now gaped in the shaft, and toward that Tenten now painfully dragged herself.  She had to hurry, the ruse would only work for so long.  As she clambered upwards, she allowed herself a small grin of triumph.  She had gambled on the ceiling-high airvent being close to the floor of the next level and it had paid off.  A crowded collection of tanks, crates, and various boxes clustered about her in what looked to be some kind of large storeroom that stretched for nearly a hundred meters in every direction

                Tenten crawled to an open storage container—not too near her exit to be conspicuous, but not too far to exhaust her—and hoisted herself in, slamming the lid shut behind her.  Slumping against the wall, she finally allowed herself to relax.  She was safe, for the moment.

                But only for the moment.  Her vision grew blurrier by the instant, and blood was starting to seep through the tied-off sleeve.  Perhaps she could ride out the sedative in this hideaway, but loss of blood might make it fatal.

                Dimly, Tenten recalled one of Sakura’s medical lectures.

                In a battle, it is important to stem blood flow from a wound as soon as possible.  She had solemnly informed the gathered kunoichi,  You must also halt the infection.  It's important to know all your options.  Medical jutsus can burn a lot of chakra, and medical kits can be lost.  Still there are alternatives.

                Slowly, Tenten reached to her back and pulled off the flamethrower. 

                There is one entirely reliable method to both staunching the wound and stopping the infection.  One that should be readily available to any ninja with a modicum of chakra or inventiveness.

                Letting it fall into her lap, she began to untie the sleeve binding her stump.

                As we in Konoha know, when a forest becomes diseased, there is sometimes only one thing to do.

                As blood burbled freshly from the stump, Tenten pressed it up against the metal crate before her and aimed with the flamethrower.

                A cleansing fire is needed.

                This time, Tenten DID pass out.

                “The others are at the Watchtower already, then?”

                Batman gave a short nod from the front.  “We have medical facilities there to tend to them.  Another Javelin will be back later for your other friends.”

                “Why must the others remain?”  asked Lee from his stretcher.  Sakura was seated beside him, hands glowing.  Somehow, Lee had managed to escape the fight with only minor superficial wounds and a broken leg.  He did, of course, have burns all over his body from the Amateratsu flames, but even those were rapidly diminishing.  “Do you need them for something.”

                “They’re the least wounded among you,” responded Wonder Woman, seated on a stretcher just opposite.  She maintained she was alright, but Sakura had determined that severe trauma had been done to her nervous system.  Raiton jutsus weren’t something you just shook off, after all.  Sakura’s chakra had helped there, but a lot of work remained to be done.

                Neji seemed incredulous.  “The least?”  Though several bullets had hit him, they seemed to have passed straight through rather than lodge anywhere.  The preliminary medical care had been more than enough to stabilize him.

                “We took down your friends Sai and Chouji with minimal damage.”  Batman’s statement came cool and crisp.  “Beast Boy and Starfire have slight concussions but nothing worse, and Raven has been relieved of this… illusion you said had a hold on her.”

                “Genjutsu.”  Sakura whispered.  “It’s called a genjutsu.”  

                Apparently still not satisfied, Neji half-raised himself from the stretcher to glare inquisitively at Batman’s back.  “And what of Ino?  I saw her fall myself.”

                “Funny you should mention it,” snorted Batman.  “From what I can tell, nearly nine bullets hit her.”

                “And?”

                “And they’re not there anymore.  The wounds are all closed up, the muscles knitting back together, the bullet’s themselves are simply gone.”  Batman’s head half-twisted to stare back at Neji.  “She said your cousin healed her.  Is that correct?”

                Neji slowly collapsed back onto the bed.  “Probably.”  He muttered.

                “Have to add that to the things to ask her about, then.”

                Sakura shrugged wearily.  “Might as well.”  Hinata seemed to be full of surprises recently.  Leaning back from her healing, Sakura cracked her knuckles and rubbed her eyes. 

                “Thank you, Sakura-san.”  Lee offered her a grin.

                Trying to summon up a smile and failing miserably, Sakura settled for a simple, “You’re welcome.”

                A crackle of radio from the front made all heads glance up.  “Bats, what’s your status?”

                “ETA two minutes,” responded the other evenly.  “Passengers stable.”

                “Good to hear.  Medical bays are standing by to receive them.”

                “What about the others?”  Sakura asked hesitantly.

                “They’re all good,” chuckled the voice.  “your pal Shino is posing a bit of a puzzle to the medics here, but he’s stable, and so’s the one dog-boy.  And before you ask, Bats, Robin’s okay, and Cyborg’s back online.”

                Batman gave a short, clipped nod.  “Excellent.  Batman out.”  Without turning, he informed the others, “You all will be required to give a full account of your battle in Gotham, so I suggest you start thinking through your statements now.”

                The ninjas merely nodded.  After everything that’d happened, an interrogation seemed pretty inevitable.  Sakura, however, seemed to be rather distracted, and constantly chewed on her lower lip.  Slightly hesitant, she turned to Lee.

                “Lee…”  she whispered.

                “Sakura-san?”  the taijutsu specialist opened an eye.

                “When I… I jumped at Sasuke, I thought…”  she swallowed.  “…I thought that… just for a second… he paused.  He usually reacts instantly, but he… he hesitated.  For a moment.  I wouldn’t have been able to grab his gun if he hadn’t.”  Eyes probing Lees, she pleaded, “Do you… do you think he…”

                “Most likely, he hesitated because his weapon was nearly out of bullets.”  Batman’s icy voice cut into their conversation.  “The Uzi I found at the scene had a completely empty magazine.  I imagine your Sasuke guessed this from the weight and arranged the hostage gambit out of desperation.”  There was a slight pause, and then he added, “If he’d had more ammo, I imagine you’d be dead by now.”

                Sakura’s eyes went completely vacant, and she slumped back in her chair.  The look Wonder Woman shot Batman, and the look Lee gave her, passed entirely without reaction.  Only when the Javelin touched down in the landing bay and the medics started to come in, did she finally speak.

                “Lee.”

                “Yes, Sakura-san?”  Lee was eyeing her rather anxiously.

                “Do you have your medicine on you.”

                “My…”  For a moment Lee fumbled as to her meaning, than his eyes cleared.  “Yes, Sakura-san, but why…?”

                “Can I have it.”

                Lee’s considerable eyebrows raised.  “Sakura-san, I…”

                “Lee.”  Sakura’s vacant gaze turned to the chunin.  “Sake.  Please.”

                “Why are you bothering me with this?”  snapped Luthor—or rather, his projection in the control room.  “Capture the brat, or kill her if you can’t manage that, it makes no difference. “

                Dr. Ronald Fisker had never really enjoyed working for Luthor.  Sure, you couldn’t argue with the pay rates or the equipment, and it WAS nice not to have to worry about international laws, but the man had a slight tendency for megalomania.  Also for killing employees, which was just bad business anyway you looked at it. 

                Fortunately, at the moment he didn’t have to speak to him.  Security Chief Ravensbruk was doing that.  “But sir, she is destroying ze base.  If continues, the League vill undoubtedly…”

                “I didn’t hire you to come running to me every time something goes wrong, Ravensbruk.”  Luthor  glared at the unfortunate security chief.  “Do a thermal scan, use tracking dogs, follow the stupid implant we put in her.  Flood the building with gas if you have to, just get her and stop bothering me!”

                “Sir, she blew off the arm that had the implant.  Und the use of gas vould…”

                Luthor’s projection made an irritated gesture and Ravensbruk’s head exploded. 

                Sighing, Fisker reached up to clean off his glasses.    This was really getting old.  Brain fragments left very persistent stains on lab coats.  A part of him wondered if he should start wearing a dust suit to the control room.

                “Fisker, you’re in charge now.  Take care of the girl anyway you like, call out the others if you want, but do not interrupt me again.  Understood?”

                “Yes sir.”  Fisker offered a weary nod.

                “Good.”  Nodding, Luthor  began to turn away and then, almost as an afterthought, snapped his fingers at Ravensbruk’s headless corpse.  As the projection vanished, a new head swelled from the former security chief’s shoulders.

                Teeth clenched in pain, Ravenbruk stood to his feet, wiping some bits of his own skull off his suit.  “I am demoted, ja?”  He hissed to Fisker.

                Fisker merely gave a nod.

                “Just as well.”  The broad German gave another hiss of pain as ears sprouted from the head.  “I miss the days when dying vas the end.”

“An id’it.  Thas wha he is, and id’it.”

                One of the reasons Batman loved the monitor womb was because of how quiet it was.  How contemplative.  Nobody came in unless they had the most urgent business.  There were no distractions, just clear, unadulterated intelligence from all over the world, intelligence to be contemplated and catalogued in the glorious silence of the monitor womb.

                So why the pink-haired girl should go and choose to be drunk HERE, of all places, was not only confusing but manifestly annoying. 

                “I mean, OHmiGOD he’s an idiot.  All dark and angsty with hiz whole ‘Ah musht avenge my clan’ thingummy goin’ on.”    The girl stared at the small metal flask in her hand for a moment.  “Y’know?  And he won’t let anybody help him either, ‘cause he thinks he’s all cool and stuff.”

                Batman ignored the girl’s observation.  “Where did you get alcohol?”  He asked.  “They’re not supposed to serve it to minors.”

                “Wha?  Thish?  Thish ain’t no al-cho-haull!  Thish… thish here is sake.”  Again the girl stared at the flask and blinked owlishly.  “Sake.  Na Alcohol.  Alcohol… al’chol makes you DRUNK.  I’m too… I’m too young ta git drunk.  Not ‘llowed.”

                “At least our universes have THAT much in common.”  Batman muttered.

                “Na, sake’s fine.  Shenshei has sake ALL the time, and she’s not drunk.   Except when she is, ya know.  But sake…”  Sakura nodded profoundly.  “Sake is good.  Good for you.”  She proffered the bottle.  “You wan’ sake?”

                “No thanks.”  Batman closed his eyes.  “What was this you were saying about the Uchiha?”

                “I…Ah used to be in love wid him.  Y’know?  Stupid things… you do this when you’re young.  We were on the same team and I wuz all ‘ohmiword I’m on the same team wid Sasuke and he’s gonna be my Prince Charming and we’ll be happ’ly married and all that shit.’  That’s what I thought.”  She hiccupped.  “That was a bad idea.”

                “Dating within the team always leads to disaster,” nodded Batman abstractedly.

                “B—but you don’t GET it!”  The girl burst into tears.  “We never WENT on a date!  We never did ANYTHING!”

                “Mmm-hmmm.”  Batman was wondering when the girl would be finished.

                “It was always just ME, MOONing about him like he was the center of the universe or something.  But he was always being so COLD and aLOOF all the time.  I mean C’MON!  Okay, the guy’s parent’s died.”  She frowned.  “An’… An’ the others, I guess.  Y’know… All the others in his clan.  They did the dying thing too.  That was sad.  But STILL!”

                “Definitely.”  Something in the girl’s story seemed to job Batman’s memory.  Had he heard this story before?  Outside of the last five times she’d told it?

                “I mean… sure, I was stupid.”  The girl stared contemplatively at the bottle.  “Stupid stupid stupid.  Do you know anything that rhymes with stupid?”

                “No.”  Cupid. Lurid. Drooped, if you wanted to stretch it.

                “Well, if you did, that would be me.  Stupid… whatever.  That’s what I was.  But… I got better.  I mean, I gotta understand him… sorta.  He was hurt.”  She yawned.  “He felt all alone, y’know?  Like nobody could really unnerstand him, b’cause no body’d been where he’d been.  And here was everybody thinking he was cool and had it all together…”  Another snort of amusement.  “W’en all the time he was just being an id’it.  A big, jerkass, lonely, angry, id’it.”

                “So you’ve mentioned.”

                “But ah… I wanted to HELP him.  Y’know?  Once I f’gured out what his problem was.  An’ Naruto wanted to help him too, because Naruto’s just cool like that.  An’ he… An’ he wasn’t having nothing of it.  Thought he’d be stronger or somethin… somethin’ with his brother.  Thought he’d be more powerful without friends.”  She gave a sobbing hiccup.  “Id’it.”

                “Quite.”

                “If he’d let us, we woulda helped him… me and N’ruto.  Coulda helped him fight Itachi.  Kept that jerk Madarra from getting to him first.  I told him, I said, ‘I’ll leave the vill’ge for you!  Lemme help you in y’r revenge!  Shit like that, y’know.  Kinda selfish, but hey…”  She shrugged and nearly fell off the console.  “…y’do crazy things when y’r in love.”

                “So I’ve heard.”

                “But he said no.  Said thank you.  No thank you. Whazzat mean, anyway?  It mean ‘No thank you’s,’ or ‘No, thank you?’  Or ‘No, thank YOU.’  Could mean all sorts of things.”  She puzzled over it a moment and suddenly burst into tears.  “Not that it MEANS anything NOW, because now he’s BEING all DARK and id’iotic and I don’t even…”  Her drunken tears choked her for a second.  “I don’t even know what he is now.  He’s gone.”

                “A sad story.”  Batman frowned at an image of Gotham city and the pale, green-cloaked giantess.  Where did that come from?

                “You know anybody like that?”

                To his credit, Batman did search his mind for a moment before answering, “No.”

                “Good.  ‘Cause if you did, they’d be id’its.  And you should talk to ‘em and get ‘em to stay before they go all ‘I must avenge’ on everyone.  Kakashi… Kakashi-shenshei alwus said... ‘revenge don’ work…’ or somethin’ like that, I guess.  Mebbe it was, ‘leads nowhere’ or ‘leaves ya all dark and lonely and id’itic.’  Somethin’ along that line.”  The girl tilted her head back for another swig from the flask before taking it away and blinked at it owlishly.  “I’m out.”  She announced, puzzled.

                “So you are.”  Batman agreed.

                “Ya hash any sake I could borrow?”

                “No.”

                “Oh.  Well, that sucks.  Guess I’ll find Lee and see if he has anymore.”  The girl slid off the console and nearly collapsed on the floor.  Slowly, she hoisted herself upwards and began to stagger to the door.  It whooshed open and she stared at it, bewildered.  “Thish doorway sneezes!”

                “Mmhmm.”  Batman did not turn.

                “Are you alright?” interjected a new voice.  Batman swiveled to observe a strangely concerned Diana standing at the door with Sakura.

                Sakura, for her part, merely grinned broadly.  “Hey!  It’sh the Night Hawk!  How’re ya!”  Her mind caught up to the question and she shook her head benignly.  “Nah.  I’m alright.  Cone sold stober, that’s me.  Do you know any id’its?”

                Blinking, Wonder Woman looked to Batman.  He merely shrugged.

                “If you do, tell shem to stop being idiotic and get some friends.  ‘kay?”  Sakura patted the Amazon affectionately on the wrist before beginning to stagger down the hallway.

                Diana watched her for a moment before turning back to Batman.  “What was all that about?”

                “No idea.”  Batman returned to the computer.

                Stabbing pain forced its way through the blackness and slowly cut a path to the brain.  It formed an arm there, a throbbing, pulsing arm that became so persistent that at last Tenten creaked her eyes open just to see the thing.

                The blackened stump stared back at her accusingly from where it huddled in her chest.  The fingers of her other hand had clutched at it in her sleep and blood was creeping from beneath her blackened fingernails.  The heavy scent of burnt flesh lay on the smoky air.

                This… this is good.

                Pain meant she was awake.  Being awake meant she hadn’t bled to death.  Being awake in the crate meant that she hadn’t been found while unconscious and was still at large in the Luthor complex.  Unless it was a genjutsu… but no.  The pain.  And she even had a flamethrower still, apparently she’d dropped it as she passed out.  All things considered, she’d been unbelievably lucky.

                Tenten had had even more luck than she knew.  The crate she had chosen to hide in was an insulated, nearly airtight one, shielding her from thermal scans and trapping the scent of her burned skin, which might so easily have brought tracking dogs.

                For a minute, Tenten just sat there, staring at her burnt stump of an arm, reminding herself exactly how lucky she was.  Then she forced her eyes closed, lifted her head, and stared at the ceiling of the crate, thinking.  So far she’d just been running nonstop, trying to stay alive and stave off exhaustion.  But she couldn’t do that forever, and now was the best time to plan out a course of action.

                First consideration.  Tenten frowned.  What would Lady Tsunade do?

                The answer came rapidly.  Lady Tsunade would regenerate her own arm, smash through the walls on a warrior slug to rescue the others, utilize an earth jutsu…

                Tenten closed her eyes and willed the situation away.  That isn’t helping.

                Okay.  Realistic options then.  One, hide in an out-of-the-way corner of the base and wait for an opportunity.  Workability dubious.  Two, find the others and break them free before leading an all-out charge for the perimeter.  Workable if others close enough and in good health.  Three, go crazy on the hallways until you find a way out, run for the border and alert Konoha, hopefully to send a rescue team.  Most direct (Tenten liked direct), but also most ambiguous.  I know nothing about the distances involved.

                Actually, Tenten realized, her lack of knowledge was the single most dangerous part of the whole equation.  Without knowing more about the bases’ layout or its location, she had no idea whether she should be going up, down, left, or right.  The exits could be anywhere, and might have any amount of guards over them.  In fact, her whole journey so far might have simply taken her further from the exits.

                Tenten pressed her palm to her forehead.  Think, girl, think.  Up would certainly lead out eventually, though escape might not be any easier from there.  Still, it would help her get her bearings, which would be worth something.

                Right then, decided Tenten, shoving the lid aside and picking up her flamethrower.  Sneak upwards, attracting as little attention as possible, and see if you can get any intel on the base.  Then you can go ballistic and start busting your way out.

                Leaping up and out, Tenten renewed her one-woman war.

                “So.  What exactly happened back there?”

                People being questioned by Batman generally looked nervous, but these two were on another level.  Naruto was staring at the floor, shaking slightly and biting his lip.  Hinata looked like she wanted to melt away and die.

                “I’m waiting.”  All things considered, Batman was actually being pretty nice to the kids.  At least, compared to his normal self. 

                Naruto cleared his throat uncomfortably.  “Um… well… I may have… unleashed the… Kyuubi.  Thing.  That’s inside of me.”

                “Kyuubi.  Nine-tails?”  Batman frowned.  “The monitors showed only four.”

                “It was a partial transformation,” admitted the blonde, writhing in embarrassment.

                Amanda Waller, who had insisted on being present, snorted derisively.  “So long as that’s all it was.  I should hate for it to have obliterated three-fourths of Gotham as opposed to one-eighth.”

                Naruto’s head shot up.  “Did I really destroy that much?”

                “The city is fine.”  Superman cut in.

                “Physically, anyway,” grunted Batman.  “Apart from a score of heart attacks in the region, there’s no tangible damage to the people.”

                Though he suspected a hidden message in that statement, Superman let it go.  “You said you unleashed the Kyuubi.  Deliberately?”

                “In… a way.”  Naruto groaned.  “Sasuke was going to shoot Amaterasu flames at the city, I had to stop him somehow.  The Kyuubi was the only way.”

                “Because obliterating the city would be better than burning it down.” 

                Naruto nearly chewed his lip off.  “I thought… I could control it better than that.  Amaterasu flames are unextinguishable, not even ninjas can diffuse them.  We wouldn’t have been able to stop it.”

                Cocking an eyebrow, Batman remarked, “Your girlfriend over there seems to be able to handle them.”

                Hinata’s face flamed into color and she swayed just slightly.  Out of the corner of his eye, Superman saw J’onn’s mouth twitch.  Naruto just whirled around to stare at her.  “Huh?  You can put out Amaterasu flames?  Since when?  Is this some kind of secret Hyuuga thing?”

                “N-no.”  Hinata stared fixedly at the table, unwilling to look at any of the men in the room.  “No, it’s not.”

                Stumped by that denial, Naruto furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, then asked, “Is it… something to do with that creepy guy we were talking to?”

                Batman’s other eyebrow inched upwards.  “Creepy guy?”

                But Hinata’s face had apparently told Naruto all he needed to know.  “Nobody important,” said he, a little too quickly.

                 Waller snorted.  “For a ninja, you don’t lie very well.”

                Superman sighed and pinched his nose.  “Naruto, thousands of people saw a giant flaming fox just about destroy a city, and a giant white woman stop him.  That’s not the sort of thing we can just make go away.”

                “The public’s going to want an explanation.” Batman’s glare was tangible.  “And that was MY city you nearly destroyed.  I'd like to know a few things myself.”

                More than that, added Superman silently.  Neither Batman nor the people at large would be comfortable letting Naruto out of the Justice League’s hands after something like this.  One way or another, the ninjas days with the Titans were over, and Superman couldn’t help but wonder how the teenagers would take that.

                At the moment, things did not look promising.  Naruto might not be much of a liar, but he seemed to have a stubborn streak a mile long.  He matched Batman’s glare eye-to-eye and folded his arms across his chest, clearly determined not to tell them anything.

                Surprisingly, it was Hinata who broke the silence. “W-we..."  She swallowed and looked up, "We may h-have discovered wh-why we and the others c-came here.”

                Why was everything here in gibberish?  Tenten stared in frustration at the sign etched on the wall.  She was certain—fairly certain—that the design carved there was a map of the complex.  She also felt pretty sure that the big red ‘X’ marked her current location.  But neither assurance changed the fact that the scribbles  covering the rest of map made NO sense whatsoever!

                The sound of footsteps resounded in the corridor and she quickly hid herself.  Genjutsu was unfortunately impossible to do one-handed, but she could still climb walls, and ceilings came in very handy at moments.  Those security cameras WERE a problem, but they were not unavoidable for any competent ninja.  These patrols, on the other hand… they could be problematic occasionally.

                Crouching low to the ceiling, she listened as the sprinting footsteps came closer.  From the sound of gibberish (she couldn’t understand the words they said either), there were only two.  Hardly a real threat.  Holstering her weapon, Tenten considered a moment.  The steps were coming too quickly for a patrol… an alert, maybe?  Had they found her?  Or was something else happening?

                No more time to think.  Two guards rounded the corner, jogging lightly, guns at the ready.  Releasing the chakra in her feet, she landed lightly behind them, springing after the rearmost.  Her hand covered his mouth as her stump struck him hard at the base of the skull.    Dropping his limp body, her hand flew to her side. 

                The other guard turned just in time to greet the knife flying toward him.

                Tenten sighed as the now-familiar sirens echoed through the base.  Great.  Of course that whole affair had been in front of the cameras.  Every guard within miles would be converging on this location.  Quickly she searched each guard, trading the one’s laser rifle for her nearly-spent flamethrower and confiscating all the grenades she could fit on her belt.  Then she noticed the ID tag on the guard’s uniform.

                A keycard!  Tenten gave a short nod of approval.  She’d seen some of the guards using these earlier, moments before she killed them.  You used them to open doors.  The ones she’d taken off the others were no use anymore… probably the computers had shut them off somehow… so a new one was very helpful.

                More footsteps.  Many more.  Tenten sighed and bolted upward, leveling her new weapon.  Time to blast through, find an escape route, and vanish from the cameras again.  This was getting old.

                “Name’s Steel.”  The metallic man extended a hand.  “Well, more like callsign, but anyway, you get the idea.  I’m going to be flying you back to Gotham.”

                Neji gingerly shook the other’s hand.  “Why, again, am I going back there?  I just left.”

                A small whirring sound accompanied the shrugging of Steel’s shoulders.  “Hey man, don’t look at me, okay?  The big guys wanted all you kids back here ASAP right at the start, and now that everybody’s in they got time to think about what to do with you.  Bats and Supes are still up there talking to your other friends, but the other’s called in a mission for you.”

                “A mission?”  Neji arched an eyebrow.  “I am hardly in fit condition for a ‘mission,’ I fear.”

                The man smiled.  “Not that kinda mission.  You won’t have to do any fighting, from what I hear.  They just want you to spot for them.”

                “I beg your pardon?”

                “It’s Green Lantern’s idea.  Flash has already searched through that city about five times, and he hasn’t found a single trace of your Sasuke friend.  Yet you guys found him within five seconds of hitting town.”  As he pulled back the pilot’s chair, the man offered Neji the adjoining one.  “They figure maybe you could do it again.”

                “And if I refuse?”  Neji seated himself in the co-pilot’s seat and buckled himself in.

                The man’s metallic brow crinkled in confusion.  “Well… I guess then we just sit here and wait until the big guys decide what they want to do with you guys, hoping that in the meantime your friend Sasuke doesn’t mess up the country any worse than it is and get you guys in even MORE trouble than you already are.”

                “Hm.”  Neji frowned at the console.  “It was a rhetorical question in any case.”

                “Good.” 

With a tremendous rumble, the jets below shuddered into life, and Neji felt again a quiet euphoria as the Javelin left the ground.  Someday, he told himself, I must learn to operate this vehicle.  For now, he simply watched as the steel grey of the hangar flew past to greet the open blue of the sky.  Thin shreds of cloud shredded against the sharp edge of the Javelin’s nose, and the sun gleamed unhindered through the window.

“So that eye thing… that run in the family?”

Neji blinked, slightly distracted.  “What?”

“Your eyes.”  The man grinned at him.  “Your cousin has them, but none of the other kids do.  It a family thing?”

                Frowning, Neji glanced away.  “I do not care to discuss it.”

                Steel winced slightly.  “Okay.  Sorry man.”

                For a moment, the two rode in awkward silence.  Finally, Neji turned back.  “Your skin… it is metallic.  Is that a kekkai genkai of some kind?”

                “M’sorry?”

                “A bloodline.  A… meta ability, superpower.”  Neji sometimes had difficulty with the new terms.  “Is that your power, to turn into steel?”

                Smiling, the man shook his head.  “Nope.  Common mistake, though.  This is a suit, or more like armor, I guess.  Gives me superstrength, lets me fly, stuff like that.  Made it myself.”

                “Armor, like a samaurai?”

                “Kinda an odd choice, but yeah, I guess.”  Steel chuckled as he looked over.  “Anybody could wear this suit, really, I’m just sorta greedy and keep it to myself.”

                “Anyone?  Fascinating.”  Eyes intent, Neji studied the suit once more.  “The inventiveness of your world astounds me sometimes.”

                “Sorry?”

                “Your ability to make things.  That suit.  This plane.  Those buildings below, all the medical equipment in the hospital.  In my world, we have nothing that compares.  Oh, I suppose we have similar techniques employed by chakra use, but as for equipment operable by anyone…”  Neji shook his head.  “Nothing.  These… Javelins that you fly around so carelessly… they are unheard of in our world.  There are perhaps two or three people in the world who can truly fly, and they do not lend their talents willingly.”

                Shrugging, Steel responded, “Well, not many ordinary people can here, either, unless they  have a suit like mine.  Or one like STRIPES’s.  Or a rod like Stargirl’s.  Or an energy ring.  Or…”  he frowned.  “Okay, I see your point.”

                “I was just thinking of the airplanes, to be honest, but yes, you do seem to have a great number of flying people.”  Neji’s lips twitched in something akin to a smile.  “How long should it take us to reach Gotham?”

                Steel checked the meter.  “About an hour.”  He said.  “This is one of the older Javelins, they don’t go as fast as the others.”

                Tenten’s fingers touched a nerve cluster on the man’s neck and he dropped senseless to the ground.  For a moment she considered putting a hole through his head for safety, but discarded the notion.  She needed to save ammo.

                Sirens were still blaring, but whether because of this attack or one of the previous ones, she really couldn’t say.  At some point, whoever was in command up there had apparently had just decided to leave the alarm on

                More grenades.   She’d need those to get past the guard squadrons coming after her.  The gun was no use, it was fairly low-grade.  The helmet, Tenten could use, a stray shot from the last skirmish had left a smoking graze along one side of her old one.  Quickly she discarded it and picked up the new one.  The key-card…

                Tenten frowned as she ripped it from the man’s jacket.  This one looked… different somehow.  More fancy.  Maybe it unlocked more things?   Or did it quicker?

                She’d have to try it out later.  Right now there were other things.  Regardless of whether they’d seen her with these, she needed to keep moving, it wouldn’t take long for them to figure out her location.  Maybe blasting down a wall…

                At that moment, her thoughts were stopped by a pale man rising up through the floor.

                Tenten bit back a scream as she leaped back and leveled her laser rifle.  Fifteen rays of death shot through the man’s pale coat without effect.  In a single fluid motion, the ninja shouldered her gun and snatched a grenade, pulling the pin with her teeth.  It went flying toward the man’s floating form and exploded.

                The man simply stood there, floating amidst the explosion.  Tenten would say he looked amused, except for one simple fact: the man had no head.  A pale top hat floated above his frock coat and cravat, and a monocle suspended in the intervening space, but eyes, mouth, nose, or skull there was none.

                A… ghost?  Tenten’s frenzied mind thought. 

                Whatever it was, the figure raised its cane at Tenten.  You didn’t have to be a weapons specialist, or even a ninja, to know what that meant, and Tenten was rolling out of the way long before the bolt of magic blasted into the wall.  Recovering quickly, she turned and bolted down the hallway, throwing back another grenade, more for cover than anything.  The magic bolts were going wild, but that couldn’t last.  If she could just get to a…

                The thought froze in her mind as a huge bulk of a man rounded the corner ahead of her.  She caught a momentary impression of a giant in blackish-blue and red, one eye glowing with malevolent light.  With surprising agility the man leapt at her, and she just barely managed to dodge.  Her gun whipped around, and without hope, she fired.

                However, it seemed lasers DID hurt this figure, even if they also enraged him.  He howled and clutched his shoulder, turning toward her with a new fury.  Heartened, she opened up with rifle again, but he was more wary now, dodging from side to side, and she could see the ghost drawing closer. 

Enough of this.  Tenten rolled away, dodging and firing with all her might.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the giant raise his wrist, and soon heard the crackle of gunfire.  Bullets whizzed about her, and she leapt from wall to ceiling to floor in a frenzied dance.  Some nipped her good shoulder and she clenched her teeth in pain.

This was no longer a game.

                “The problem with being a god is that everyone expects you to solve their problems,” observed Luthor, studying the streets below.  “They assume that all your overworldly power and glory is for their benefit alone, and never think that you know best what to do with it.  Vastly annoying.”

                Captain Dio gave a slight nod, not exactly daring to comment on the subject.  To be honest, he wasn’t exactly certain what his boss had called he and his men out here for.  It wasn’t like his boss needed firepower.

                “In this instance, here I am, in Gotham, seeking the Sharingan, or rather the Uchiha.  The one, last step to godhood that will allow me to complete the puzzle.  And what do I get?  Annoying underlings whining about how a churlish prisoner is loose in the hallways.”  Snorting, Luthor gave a trivial gesture with his hand.  “She’s a barely useful prisoner, and as far as I can tell, has no power whatsoever.  Yet they see fit to interfere in my quest to godhood with a request for aid!”

                Dio didn’t really understand what his boss was saying there, but there was nothing particularly new about that.  So he nodded again.

                With a sigh, Luthor let his hands fall at his sides.  “Pah.  Enough of that.  It’s not even worth my attention.  What IS is the rather disturbing absence of the Uchiha in Gotham.”

                That statement had to be addressed.  “Sir?”

                “He’s not here, you idiot,” snapped Luthor.  “If he was, I’d have felt him the moment we arrived, and he me.  We would have been drawn together.  But he’s not.  So the question is, where did he go, and how?”

                “Perhaps the League found him, sir?”

                Luthor snorted.  “Don’t be ridiculous.  I may be masking us from their notice, but that’s not because I’m afraid of their power, it’s just simply more convenient.  Uchiha would never have been taken by them.”  He frowned, once again studying the streets.  “No.  It’s something else.”

                “Ah.”  Dio decided it was time to bring up the one subject that’d been on his mind.  “Sir?  If he’s not here, then… perhaps we could move somewhere else?  A more stable holding point, perhaps, like on top of a building or something?”  Or anywhere except floating in midair?

                Luthor rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers twice.  The first snap burnt Dio to a crisp, the second restored him again.  “I suppose we might as well.”  He shrugged.  Slowly, the squad of floating men began to lower to a building. “But we’re not leaving Gotham till we discover some hint of where Uchiha’s gone.  I’m so close now… he’s not escaping me this time.”

                Quiet hung over the icy glass cell like a pall, relieved only by the occasional spark from the single lamp above it.  The white light glared down unmercifully on a emaciated figure clad in tattered gold and red, sprawled untidily on the cell’s glass floor.

                Kid Flash had spent some weeks within the six-by-six-by-six dimensions of this glass crate, and knew every specific about it.  He knew that it wasn’t really glass, it was too hard for that.  He knew that the surfaces could be charged to shock him if he didn’t do what the bald man said.  He knew that the hatch on the one side was how they sent in food, and that the drain on the other was how he sent it out.  He knew that they fed him just enough to keep him alive, so he wouldn’t have the energy to run. 

                Currently, he knew that the two guards outside were deliberately taunting him, savoring every minute of that beautiful, high-calorie lunch they were opening right in front of him just within the light where he could practically smell it…

                That was when the first explosion came.

                Explosions were something new.  The sirens had been going on for hours now, and neither Kid Flash nor the guards really even noticed them anymore.  There had been a lot of patrols going by too, but that wasn’t particularly unusual either.  Explosions… they hadn’t heard a lot of explosions.

                The two guards set aside their lunch and moved to the door, guns at the ready.  The explosions were getting louder now and closer together.  Kid Flash crawled a little closer to the wall of his cell, somewhat curious himself.

                The explosions were very close now.  There was a thump outside their door.  Both guards tensed and pointed their weapons…

                And the door beeped cheerily as it popped open to reveal absolutely no one.  The guards had all of two seconds to relax before the lady walking on the ceiling shot them dead.

                Kid Flash blinked as the lady leapt into the room and slammed the door shut.  Sure, he knew lots of girls, some of which flew, fired magic beams, or altered probability, but walking on ceilings was a new one.  Come to think of it, girls with missing hands were pretty new too.

                The girl turned from piling things up against the door and did a double take.  “Nani?”  A quick jog took her right over to the glass, and she frowned at him through it.  “Anta dare?”  She asked, clearly confused. 

                Unable to understand the girl’s strange jargon, Kid Flash tried to pantomime that he was trapped and wanted to get out.  The lady just kept staring at him, apparently unable to understand his presence there.

                Suddenly there was another explosion, rather different from the other ones and much, much closer.  The door shook and the light above it flashed alarmingly.

                “Kuso!” swore the girl.  “Maa ii, koko kara dete ikou.”  She gestured him away from the glass and threw a grenade.  It exploded, sending bits of cell flying and leaving the front open to the elements.  The air smelled different somehow, and for the first time Kid Flash realized that the air in his cell must have been drugged.  “Arukaru?” questioned the girl, picking her way toward him.

                But Kid Flash paid her no heed.  In one second he was across the room, wolfing down the guards lunch, in two second he had the barricade down and the door blown open, and in three seconds he’d eaten half of the mess-hall’s dinner.

                Somewhere three-tenths through the fourth second, he dashed back to his cell and grabbed the lady.  If she was in trouble, he reasoned, it was only fair that he help her escape too.

                “KGBeast and Gentleman Ghost have lost contact with the target.  Kid Flash is loose…“

                “Security breaches at checkpoints Alpha, Gamma, Chi, Beta…”

                “Verdammt!” hissed Ravensbruk.  “If Flash has her, she is as good as out already.  Luthor vill kill us both.”

                “If that is all he does, I will not be so disappointed.”  Fisker frowned.  “Still, it’s not over yet.  The only exit they can use is the street access one, and that is secured.”  His finger flew to the intercom.  “Metallo, Livewire, stand ready.”

                HallwayhallwayhallwayROOMback hallwayhallwayELEVATORSHAFTBOUNCEBOUNCEBOing.  HallwayhallwayWOoop.  Map.

Study.  Locate exit ah there it is.  Girl barfing.  Yuck.  On again. 

HallwayhallwayhallwaySecurityCheckpoint TOO SLOWHAHAAhahahallwayhallwaystairs.  Patrol bullets dodge whizzwhizz TOO SLOW Punchpunch knockout HAha sucker. HallwayhallwayLIGHT.  Exit.  Fasterfasterfaster…

Blast?

                An enormous shockwave rocked the Javelin, and Neji experienced the sudden violent sensation of having his stomach turned inside-out.   “Nani?”  he cried, momentarily slipping into his own tongue.

                “Shit!”  Steel did not seem any better pleased than he at the turn of events.  “I dunno, some kind of energy beam just came out of nowhere.  Strap yourself in, I’m going to have to land this thing.  Steel to Metro Tower, come in Metro Tower…”

                Neji was already strapped in, but he held tight to the edges of the seat and activated his Byakugan, searching for their attacker.

                “…taking fire just above Dakota city, am attempting emergency landing.  Attackers unknown, possess…”

                The veins around his eyes pulsed and the walls around him were stripped away, empty before his all-piercing gaze.  Above, below, left, and right, all were open to him in equal focus, from the clouds above to the cars cruising below.  He saw Steel’s suit, Steel’s face, and Steel’s brain all at once.

                And he also saw a very familiar chakra signature down below.

                Neji, for once in his life, lost his reserve.  “Tenten?”